The Dream Land Story
by GameTrekker
Summary: This is the revised edition of my famous Kirby epic. Nothing in the games or anime will be left unreferenced in this comprehensive, original take on the entire Kirby universe!
1. Days Daze

_The Dream Land Story_

by GameTrekker

**  
Chapter 1: Days Daze**

The sun rose above the distant mountains. Another day had begun in Dream Land.

For Popopo, it was like any other day. He kept his eyes closed at first, savoring the last moments of his wonderful dream. When he was ready, he got up and made breakfast.

Popopo was of the Dream Lander race, which was named after its only known residence: the country of Dream Land on the planet Pop Star.

The body of a Dream Lander has a very simple design, so a sketch of one is easy to make. First you draw a circle. Then you add smaller semicircles for the "arms". After that, add medium-sized semicircles for the feet. Lastly, all you need are two vertical ovals for the eyes and a dot for the mouth. As for coloring, each Dream Lander's body and feet are different colors. Popopo's distinguishing color was pink, while his feet were magenta.

He had a huge breakfast. It consisted mainly of Pop Star's local fruits, as they were so plentiful and easy to collect. The pile he was eating today was over two feet tall, even though Popopo himself was only eight inches in height (average for a Dream Lander). He gulped down the mountain, not bothering to chew with his nonexistent teeth. (His kind has no bones at all, let alone teeth.) Popopo was feeling even hungrier than usual at the moment, so he fixed himself some pancakes. He could hold the pan by wrapping one of his flap-like arms around its handle. Once the pancakes were done he piled syrup and berries on top of them. Then, stretching his pinprick mouth to the size of a dinner place, he swallowed them all at once.

After breakfast, Popopo went outside to play with his fellow Dream Lander friends. They were Tututu, who was blue with pink feet, Vavava, who was green with yellow feet, and Ririri, who was orange with blue feet. Their favorite game was "Hide and Seek". Due to the vastness of Vegetable Valley, which was the area of Dream Land where they lived, Popopo and his friends set up boundaries first. Then the game began. "Hide and Seek" was their favorite because their kind had the ability to inflate (or "puff up") at will and float through the air. They used this ability to fly up onto rooftops or into trees to hide.

Once play was done, they each took their afternoon nap, a tradition among Dream Landers. Sleep is entered more often in Dream Land than anywhere else in the Milky Way galaxy, probably because the residents always have good dreams. This is how Dream Land got its name. Revitalized after afternoon nap, the four friends resumed their play.

As the sun set, Popopo parted with his friends and returned to his dome-shaped house on the hill. He fixed himself dinner, which was at least as big as breakfast and consisted mostly of vegetables. Satisfied and content, Popopo lay down on his bed and went to sleep.

Life was sweet. Popopo could play all day, eat when he was hungry and sleep when he was tired.

He had never wondered how his way of life was possible. Yet, to an outsider, it would seem strange that Popopo's kind was able to thrive while doing nothing productive. There were plenty of other races in Dream Land, so why didn't they all have this privilege? The truth of the matter was that Dream Landers were generally ignored by the others. They were used as a method of keeping the incredibly rapidly growing vegetation of Dream Land at bay. But being neglected turned out to suit them just fine.

Collapse, however, was unfortunately inevitable. All that had to occur was the presentation of an outside force that was willing to exploit such an abundance of innocents.


	2. Dictatorship

**Chapter 2: Dictatorship**

King Dedede ruled over Dream Land. His castle rested atop Mt. Dedede (which he had obviously named), northeast of Vegetable Valley. The Dream Landers, however, never cared much about him. Why should they? King Dedede was a self-proclaimed king and performed no administrative role. He did have huge armies that were ready to do his bidding at a moment's notice, but the Dream Landers just went on living their happy lives without giving him a thought. He didn't bug them; they didn't bug him. It didn't even matter that King Dedede wasn't their same species. He resembled a giant, blue penguin, dressed in red emperor's robes and a beanie-like crown with a white tuft atop it.

Yet, King Dedede's life was just about to take a dramatic turn. For, from far across the galaxy, a dark entity had been slowly making its way toward Pop Star. For a near eternity it had traveled from planet to planet, never sleeping. At last, it had arrived. The innocent lives of Dream Land were to be forever altered.

In the black of night, it descended. It spied King Dedede sleeping in his resting chamber on his grand four-poster bed. Wasting no time, it struck, cutting short the king's slumber.

King Dedede awoke. It had begun.

* * *

The next day, the king's servants were puzzled to hear him tell them to organize a mass gathering of all Dream Landers in Vegetable Valley. They did as instructed and sent the message to every dwelling in southern Dream Land.

The Dream Landers came in huge crowds, amassing an impressive sight at the front of Castle Dedede. As each one was a different color, a view of the horde from above was dazzling.

Then the drawbridge was lowered, allowing the Dream Landers to cross the moat into the castle. When every last one was inside, the drawbridge creaked shut.

The throng now occupied a giant, grassy courtyard within the castle walls. There was a fountain in the center, beyond which the great doors to the inner castle stood.

These doors opened and King Dedede walked out, but not with his usual air of superiority. He was slumped, apparently tired, with his eyes almost closed. He put a microphone to his beak and spoke slowly.

"Dream Landers, thank you for coming to my castle. You will never leave it again. That is all."


	3. The Leftover

**Chapter 3: The Leftover**

Popopo sat at home. He always avoided occasions that involved large crowds. His shyness caused him to go into a panic when he was surrounded by people. He didn't talk much and his worst fear was public speaking.

It was now just a bit after midday. Popopo looked at the sun's position and realized that now would be a good time to take today's afternoon nap.

Once he had reawakened, he went outside to find his friends. Upon leaving his house, however, he realized that no one else was outside. Vegetable Valley seemed deserted. But, that was nonsense. Everyone couldn't have just disappeared. They probably all got back a bit late from that meeting at the castle and were only now taking their afternoon naps. Just to be sure, he walked over to Vavava's house and quietly looked in the window.

Vavava's bed was empty. Popopo didn't understand. King Dedede surely wouldn't have kept them _this_ long.

He went to each of his friends' houses in turn, checking inside, looking everywhere. No one was home. Everyone, it seemed, had missed afternoon nap! This was serious.

Gathering up what little courage he had, he went to Castle Dedede to investigate. The journey took a number of hours on foot.

When he arrived at the castle, he found that the drawbridge was up. That didn't present much of a problem, though; he simply inflated himself and floated over the walls into the courtyard, which was completely devoid of Dream Landers.

His anxiety rose sharply. Where _was_ everybody? He floated up the castle wall, listening for any noise from the inside. He heard nothing, and his flight instead revealed to him that all the windows and openings to the world outside the castle had been sealed off. All his friends... All the Dream Landers must be trapped in there!

And with that, Popopo went into severe panic. He landed on the ground outside the castle walls and began running back towards home, unable to keep himself from imagining being trapped in an immense crowd for all eternity. He couldn't run the entire way, but no calming reassurance came to him on this return journey, so he remained terrified the whole time.

He made a final dash for his house as soon as he saw it in the twilight after the sun had set. He rushed inside and under the covers of his bed, shaking and breathing hard.


	4. Sticky Indeed

**Chapter 4: Sticky Indeed**

Popopo nearly screamed when his telephone rang. He had just about gotten to sleep, too! He hesitantly reached out from under the covers to answer it.

"Hello?" he said quietly.

"Hello! Finally!" replied a very smart-alecky voice. "I've been calling each Dream Lander residence in Vegetable Valley for over an hour! Sure is great to hear your voice... uh, whoever you are. Just a moment, your name's listed in the directory. Ah, here it is. Popopo, is it?"

"Yeah," said Popopo, still in the same small voice.

Silence.

"So..." continued the voice. "You're the only one left, are you?"

Popopo didn't answer. He didn't want it to be true.

"You still there?" asked the voice. "Hello?"

"Who are you?"

"Hm? Oh, right. My name. Well, that would be Gooey. You'll be needing my help."

_Is 'Gooey' a name?_ thought Popopo. _He should be called Gugugu, or something._

"Not much of a speaker, are you?" said 'Gooey' impatiently. "If you're wondering why I'm called Gooey, then it's because I'm here to help you get out of a sticky situation!" He gave a very short laugh, but then his tone of voice became more serious. "This is going to be harder than I thought. And I already thought it would be hard."

"What?"

"Okay, Popopo," replied 'Gooey'. "All your friends have been... kidnapped... somehow. You'd better get used to talking on the phone, because you're going to be doing it a _lot_. I'm here to help you get your friends back and to do that I'll need to keep in touch with you constantly. The first thing you need to do is go outside, where I will have two items waiting for you. Do that right now."

Popopo heard a click and knew 'Gooey' had hung up.

He lay there for a while, not wanting to get up, not wanting to go outside where there might be some unknown danger waiting to snatch him up. But, he did eventually rise and go to the door of his house. He opened it just a crack and cautiously peeked outside.

There were indeed two things outside. One was large, mostly flat, yellow, star shaped, and hovering a few inches off the ground. The other object was a white cellular phone that had yellow buttons and a yellow star at the end of its antenna. This phone was sitting atop the first object and making a ringing sound.

Popopo answered it. "Hello?"

"Ah!" replied 'Gooey', his voice as clear as if he was standing right next to the Dream Lander. "You finally plucked up the courage to go outside. What took you so long?" Without waiting for an answer, he continued, "The phone you hold in your hand must be guarded with your life. It will be what allows us to talk to one another during... well, you'll see. Don't want to get into that just yet. Anyway, the star in front of you is one of my patented Warp Stars. I invented them and soon I will be able to market them all across the galaxy! Using a specialized type of fuel, along with gravity manipulators, the Warp Star will take its rider to a predetermined destination at a very high speed. They can also be flown without autopilot, but you'll need training to do that. When you get on this Warp Star, it will take you to Castle Dedede. We need to find out what's behind this kidnapping, what we're up against."

"W-what?" choked Popopo. "No! Not back there!"

"Popopo, it's the only way." 'Gooey' sounded completely unperturbed by the protests. "You're the only one who can do this. Don't worry; with the phone in your possession, you'll be fine."

"B-but, I can't... Not me..."

"Hey, how about you try being brave, all right?" snapped 'Gooey' suddenly. "All you need to do is have a look around. This could be a simple procedure. I mean, once you find out what's behind all this, it'll probably be quite simple to, uh, sort out. If you don't do this, you will never see your friends again. Got that?"

Popopo climbed onto the Warp Star in a dazed state. Instantly, it sped off, flying high into the air and rocketing away towards Mt. Dedede. He screamed in fright, but his feet were stuck to the Warp Star somehow, which prevented him from falling off.

'Gooey' apparently knew that Popopo had embarked, because his voice once more blared from the phone.

"Excellent! Now, let me explain the special ability of this phone. It was designed with a specific function for Dream Landers. All you need to do is put it in your mouth. Then it will stay there and you will be able to talk with me without carrying it around. I can assure you that you won't feel it inside your mouth at all, as I have tested one just like it on myself. No, I'm not a Dream Lander, but I have a similar oral cavity, so it should work the same for both of us. Oh, and you can remove it whenever you want as well."

Popopo did as he was told. The phone had nearly flown out of his grasp when the Warp Star had taken off, and he didn't want to lose it.

Castle Dedede began growing closer, but the Warp Star wasn't slowing down.

"Oh, there's one more thing I should mention," said 'Gooey'. "Warp Stars are made of a super-high-density material, so they're extremely strong. Since I don't think it would be wise for you to enter Castle Dedede through the conspicuous visitor's entrance, you're going to be bashing through a couple walls to access the interior. The Warp Star will accomplish that."

Popopo's eyes widened as the castle got nearer and nearer. The Warp Star was tilting vertically, with his feet still stuck to it. Abruptly, the Warp Star's other side rammed into the wall of the castle, smashing straight through it. Popopo yelled again as it crashed through two more walls of the fortress.

When it finally stopped, he fell to the floor. The Warp Star remained hovering a few inches above the ground. He looked up at it and saw a series of star shaped holes through the walls behind it, leading back outside.

He was now in a dark, stone hallway. There were a lot of these hallways in Castle Dedede. He had once played "Hide and Seek" here, but he and his friends were kicked out for trespassing. No one was supposed to go in without an invitation. That incident had helped quash what little adventurousness he once had.

But, as he looked about, shaking with fear, one thing became clear: There were no guards around. From what Popopo had heard, this was a very unusual occurrence. He didn't know whether to be relieved or even more scared.

"I have highly sophisticated scanning equipment at my disposal," said 'Gooey', making Popopo jump. "I will now give you directions to the only activity I could find in the entire complex of Castle Dedede. I would've dropped you off closer to it, but I don't want you heard."

Popopo walked slowly down the hallways, following each instruction 'Gooey' gave him. Eventually he came to a door, through which he was instructed to take a peek.

At the far end of a long table in the room inside, Popopo could see King Dedede, who was talking with a strange dark orb that was floating over the table. This orb was small, glassy, and covered with gray stars that moved about its surface.

"My plan has worked perfectly," King Dedede was saying in a flat tone of voice. "It seems that I will not need your assistance to subdue this planet after all."

The orb responded in a low voice with a heavy accent that sounded like it was coming from a badly tuned radio. The accent was so strange and the "tuning" so bad, Popopo barely understood a word of what the orb said, even though he was sure it was speaking his language.

"Yes, but this planet is different." King Dedede apparently understood the orb completely. "I believe that my travels are finally at an end. There is more nourishment here than on any planet I have ever encountered in my enduring search throughout space. I have secured enough solely in this castle already to grow strong enough to take the rest of this community. What was that they called it again?"

The orb gave a short, yet still indecipherable answer.

"Ah, yes. How fitting..." King Dedede stopped talking for a moment and his gaze wandered to the doorway.

Popopo squeaked in alarm. He had been seen!

The king jumped up on the table and pulled one of his trademark mallets out of nowhere. "We have a breach!" he yelled, before rushing at Popopo.

In the split second after King Dedede charged, Popopo noticed something very strange about the king's eyes. Normally, his pupils were large and surrounded by blue irises. But now the irises were gone. In addition to this, the pupils were no longer round; they had become diagonal slits, which pointed to the outside of the face at the top and inward (toward the beak) at the bottom.

And with that, Popopo screamed and ran.

But he didn't know where to go! He didn't know the way back to the Warp Star!

Seemingly miraculously, it wasn't long before the Warp Star sped past the pursuing King Dedede and caught up with Popopo, who jumped onto it immediately.

_WHAM!_ The king's mallet came crashing down, but Popopo had already sped away. The Warp Star flew through the corridors and back out of the castle through the holes it had made on entry.

As Popopo's breathing returned to normal, 'Gooey' spoke.

"Would you mind not screaming in the future? I can hear everything you hear as if I'm standing right next to you."

"He was going... kill me!" sputtered Popopo. "I'm not ever going back to that place I almost died in even though my friends are in there and I want them out of there but I don't want to go back and I want out-"

"Calm down, Popopo," interrupted 'Gooey' exasperatedly. "This is no time to panic." He then added in a lower tone, "It's quite likely that you'll have plenty of time to do that later if my fears are confirmed."

"What?"

"I heard the entire conversation between King Dedede and... whatever incomprehensible entity he was speaking to. What I want you to tell me is if you noticed anything odd about the king."

"He tried to kill me!"

"Yeah, but besides that."

As the Warp Star flew along, strange gibbering noises could be heard coming from its cargo.

"Hey, get a grip!" shouted 'Gooey'. "I need a straight answer! Take some deep breaths and tell me anything you saw that was strange about King Dedede's appearance."

"Well... there was... one thing..." said Popopo finally. "His eyes... they were... different... slitted... and slanted..."

There was silence for a time after Popopo finished.

The Warp Star came to a stop in Vegetable Valley, but far above the ground, without descending to Popopo's house.

"So, it's true," said 'Gooey' slowly. "Dark Matter has arrived. It's finally the Starred System's turn to face this menace."

"What?"

"They didn't heed my warnings..." continued 'Gooey', sounding bitter, "and now it's too late. Well, I was given this job for a reason. It all makes sense..."

"What?" repeated Popopo. "Hey, uh... why won't you let me land?

"Because I don't want you to run away..." replied 'Gooey' in that same slow voice. "What I am about to say will, uh, likely cause you great distress."

"My friends are coming back, right? Tell me they are..."

"You needn't worry about them. Believe it or not, they are quite safe at the moment. Captured, but safe. However, the entity that has enslaved their minds must be dealt with before it possesses the rest of the life on this planet."

Popopo didn't know what to say. Time seemed to be frozen.

"The entity I speak of is called Dark Matter. It is a traveling force from the furthest reaches of space. Other civilizations have dealt with its power before, but all have managed to drive it out. Now it has come here. I know all this because of the supreme knowledge database compiled on my computer systems. But, I fear that this planet is not yet ready to face such a threat. We do not have the means of will to drive it away. Dark Matter grows stronger by possessing other creatures, making them slaves to its every thought, extensions of its mind. That was not King Dedede speaking; it was Dark Matter using the king's body to speak."

What did all this mean? Popopo felt limp. His mouth was hanging open.

"I was given an assignment to help a lone survivor, or _the_ lone survivor, when there was one. Apparently, you're that _one_. You are the only person who can deal with this menace."

Silence.

"Alright then," continued 'Gooey' abruptly. "We don't have any time to waste. There is an ancient relic called the Star Rod, which holds a power that can vanquish Dark Matter. The Star Rod is kept at the Fountain of Dreams in Rainbow Resort. We must hurry to the fountain so you can acquire the Star Rod and deal with Dark Matter."

"...Wait, that's it?" Popopo recovered slightly from his thoughts of loss upon hearing how simple the plan sounded.

"What do you mean?"

"It's that easy? I get the Star Rod and use it on Dark Matter?"

"Er, hmm," murmured 'Gooey', more than a hint of uncertainty suddenly present in his voice. "Well, that was the idea."

The Warp Star started flying in the direction of the Fountain of Dreams.

"But my sensors don't show that the Star Rod is still at the fountain."


	5. Dream State

**Chapter 5: Dream State**

The Warp Star landed at the Fountain of Dreams, and Popopo fell off immediately, just like last time.

He got up and walked over to the edge of the fountain. Its multicolored waters were rippling slightly, but none of its fountains were working. The Star Rod was missing from the dome in its center.

"There are fountains similar to this one on other planets in the Starred System," said 'Gooey', "but none of them work, because the Star Rod is what powers them and only one was ever made. It has resided here for as long as I can remember. However, it seems that Dark Matter made King Dedede command his underlings to break it up and give the pieces to those that will guard them. I'm assuming this is the case because my sensors are picking up the locations of _seven_ fragments. The Star Rod is a very powerful device and gives off a unique energy signature. No one could have broken the rod into more than seven pieces. But even as broken as this, the pieces are still detectable by my state-of-the-art technology."

Popopo simply listened, not knowing what to do. Without the Star Rod, Dark Matter couldn't be dealt with, but Popopo knew that the artifact's disappearance had even more significance than that. Dream Land was called Dream Land, and was famous, because the people who lived there always had good dreams. But that was because of the Fountain of Dreams. And now that the fountain wasn't working...

"Uh, Dream Lander, Popopo, what are you... What are you doing?"

Popopo suddenly felt himself snap out of some sort of trance. 'Gooey' had shouted at him. Why? He looked down and realized that he had almost walked off the ground and into the basin where the waters of the Fountain of Dreams were. The fountain was sacred! Swimming in it was forbidden!

He jumped back. What had just happened? Why did he have an urge to enter that water?

"Wait... That's an interesting idea," said 'Gooey'. "If Dark Matter harnesses what power there is left in the fountain... Yes, perhaps we must remove what remains before Dark Matter can. It seems logical that this course of action must be taken to begin your journey."

"My journey?" asked Popopo.

"First things first," replied 'Gooey' in usual smart-alecky tones. "In you go."

There was a split second during which Popopo stood still, puzzled, before he felt a hard shove in the back. He flipped over in the air, toward the Fountain of Dreams. The Warp Star had collided with him and sent him flying. He was so surprised, he didn't inflate to save himself from splashing down in the fountain.

Within seconds, he was gasping for breath at the surface of the water. Dream Landers cannot breathe underwater.

Once Popopo had caught his breath and rubbed his eyes, he noticed that he was floating not in multicolored water, but water that was black and brown... and thicker than normal water. He gasped, creating an unexpectedly tumultuous amount of noise. Head spinning, he briefly sank underwater again in shock. He swam to shore, sputtering.

"So, how was your dip?" asked 'Gooey', his smart-alecky tone still in place.

Popopo would have shot 'Gooey' an annoyed look, but this was still a phone conversation. "Why did you do that?"

"Hold on a moment..." replied 'Gooey'. "Yes... It worked! Popopo, the rest of the fountain's power now resides within you."

"What? No!" Popopo was aghast and confused, unsure what to do with himself. "No one goes in that fountain. I've done a terrible thing. And it's your fault!"

"You haven't done a terrible thing. The fountain granted you this power. This is a starting point for you. With this power, you can defend yourself while searching for the seven Star Rod shards."

"But, I'm not... No... Defend? How?"

"It's likely that my computers will be able to figure out what you are able to do with this power. Either that, or... Wait a moment... An irregularity upon coming back to the surface of the water? I've got it! Popopo, do you see any rocks around?"

"Yeah, there are some..." answered Popopo, perplexed.

"Well, inhale them! Suck them up!"

"Inhale...?" Now he was even more perplexed.

"Yes!"

"Okay..."

Popopo turned toward some rocks on the side of the fountain and drew a deep breath.

The rocks all flew into his mouth! Even though he somehow couldn't taste them, he immediately spat them back out in his intense surprise. They emerged as a star shaped projectile, flew a short distance through the air, and hit a bush, which burst into pieces!

"Excellent! This will be the method by which you'll dispatch your enemies, Popopo. Simply inhale one and shoot it at another!"

Popopo felt trapped. He really didn't want to do this, but he didn't seem to have a choice.

"Here's a new, fully-fueled Warp Star," said 'Gooey' as another Warp Star descended from the sky. The first one had apparently flown off while Popopo wasn't looking. "It will take you to Whispy Woods' Forest, where your search will begin. Due to the elusive nature of Whispy Woods himself, my sensors do not show an exact location for the shard. Good luck!"

Popopo had no idea what Whispy Woods had to do with the shard, but he didn't ask. He just looked at the Warp Star apprehensively. He didn't want to get on. He didn't want to have to search for Star Rod pieces. He just wanted to be home with his friends. But if he didn't do this... he might never be able to see them again.


	6. Commitment

**Chapter 6: Commitment**

The Warp Star landed in Whispy Woods' Forest, west of Vegetable Valley.

"Okay, here's your first trial, Popopo," said 'Gooey' as the Dream Lander stood up, rubbing his face where it had impacted the ground. He had fallen again when the Warp Star stopped. "The first Star Rod shard is no doubt being guarded by Whispy Woods. However, his location changes frequently, as his face can inhabit any tree in this forest, which means that I don't know where he is and you'll have to search for him."

Popopo was scared again. "I was warned never to go into Whispy Woods' Forest! All the trees are said to look the same. And once you get lost, there are Grizzo and tribal Waddle Dees in here that eat Dream Landers!"

"You'll be fine," said 'Gooey' unconcernedly. "If you get lost, the phone has a tracking device in it, so I'll always know where you are. Also, you can defend yourself now! Remember, inhale enemies and spit them back out at other enemies. You have to get used to fighting. You'll be doing it a lot. Always use lethal force; your life is currently the most important one on this planet."

Popopo couldn't believe what he was hearing. Nothing in his life had prepared him for this at all.

"You can't be serious! I'm not... I don't... Why? Why are you saying this?"

"What do you mean?" replied 'Gooey'. "Everything seems perfectly clear to me. Dark Matter is taking over and you're the only one who can do anything about it. You need to fight your way to the seven shards so you can reassemble the Star Rod."

"Why me...? This isn't me..."

"Yes it is," said 'Gooey' flatly. "I got this job a long time ago. Destiny is a very convenient way to look at a lot of things in my life, and now the same will probably be true for you. You would do well to remember that. Popopo, you have to do this. Cooperate and it won't be too difficult. I'll be here every step of the way."

'Gooey' seemed to have an answer for everything. Popopo opened his mouth to respond, but couldn't think of anything to say, so closed it again.

At that moment, two Waddle Dees emerged from between the trees. Waddle Dees looked a lot like Dream Landers, but they had no visible mouths, and their faces (and smaller feet) tended to be a different color than the rest of their body; the ones present had brown bodies, with tan faces and feet. These two were carrying spears, which they quickly aimed at Popopo, ready to throw.

"It's..." squeaked Popopo.

"If anything tries to hurt you, inhale it!" shouted 'Gooey'.

As the Waddle Dees threw their spears, Popopo inhaled. The spears entered his mouth and he immediately shot them back. The star shaped shot hit one of the Waddle Dees, which disappeared in a burst of stars. The other one looked at Popopo for a moment, and then ran back into the trees.

Popopo stood there for some seconds, not knowing what to do, stunned at what had just happened.

"Two Waddle Dees just attacked me," he said quietly, unable to get past what he had done, "and I..."

"...eliminated them, by the sound of it," interrupted 'Gooey'. "Good job! Now, go in the direction they came from."

"You mean, f-follow the one that I didn't... kill?" Popopo could barely believe he was saying this. The scenario didn't make sense.

"You let one get away? In the future, attack enemies without hesitation. That Waddle Dee is no doubt going to tell the others of its tribe that you killed one of them. The whole tribe will be after your skin!"

"What? NO! They're coming after me? What do I do? What do I do?"

"You'll have to fight them," said 'Gooey' sternly. "This will be good practice for you."

Popopo was shaking with fear.

"This isn't... You can't... I can't... Not..."

"Popopo!" shouted 'Gooey'. "Don't lose focus! You have a job to do and you're going to do it! You _will_ fight these Waddle Dees and you _will_ win! What do I have to say that will get you to accept your fate? It wasn't by chance that you didn't join your fellows at the rally. You can do this! You have to!"

But Popopo was only barely listening. Waddle Dees were beginning to emerge from the spot where the first two had.

One of them threw a spear. Popopo inhaled almost out of reflex, and shot the thrower with a star.

"They're here, aren't they?" said 'Gooey' stonily. "Inhale, Popopo. Suck them up!"

The Waddle Dees seemed to decide against throwing more spears. The rest of them charged at Popopo, ready to run him through or pound him with their little fists.

"INHALE NOW!"

Popopo did as he was told, drawing a gigantic breath that slurped the front few Waddle Dees into his mouth. He shot the dense star back at the rest of the tribe, blasting it apart. The remaining Waddle Dees threw their spears, and he inhaled again, shooting them back as stars. When only a few Waddle Dees remained, they looked like they were considering retreating, but Popopo ran forward and inhaled the rest of them. With nothing to fire at after that, he swallowed. The Waddle Dees were gone.

A few seconds of silence followed. Popopo had never experienced anything like that before. He felt strange, different; he couldn't describe it.

"Did you win?" asked 'Gooey' hesitantly.

"Yeah," answered Popopo. "I... I did."

Silence.

"I think... I can do this."

"What?"

"I'll look for Whispy Woods, like you said," said Popopo. "I want to save my friends."


	7. Everyone Sucks in the Beginning

**Chapter 7: Everyone Sucks in the Beginning**

Popopo journeyed through Whispy Woods' Forest, destroying everything that threatened him. He encountered such opponents as Bronto Burts, which were round, pink, flying creatures, with large eyes and bug wings. He also fought Grizzo, which were white, bear-like animals.

It was the strangest thing he had ever experienced. As he continued, the battling became easier. His opponents fell with less and less effort on his part. A sense of power was building in him every time he inhaled. Yet, he couldn't help but wonder why he was taking so well to something so unlike anything he had ever done before.

When Popopo had given his consent to look for Whispy Woods, 'Gooey' had given some advice on fighting the tree.

"Don't bother trying to inhale Whispy Woods," he had said. "He's a tree, after all, and won't be pulled from the ground just like that. If he puts up a fight, inhale his apples and shoot them at his face."

As Popopo inhaled another Bronto Burt, he heard a rumbling sound coming from one of the trees around him. As he turned towards it, a face materialized on its trunk. The face was made of three holes, two for the eyes and one for the mouth, and a very short, leafless branch for the nose.

"So, you are the one who has been terrorizing the life in my forest," said Whispy Woods in a low, breathy voice.

Popopo opened his mouth to respond, but that caused the Bronto Burt he had inhaled to shoot out of his mouth as a star! This star hit Whispy Woods in the side of his face, blasting off all the bark on that spot.

Whispy Woods groaned in anger and Popopo let out a shocked little squeak.

"You seek to destroy me too!" bellowed Whispy Woods. "I would never have believed this of a Dream Lander."

"No, wait!" Popopo's voice was very high from panic. "I just need the Star Rod piece you have!"

"And so you tear through my forest, killing those who live in it to lure me out!" roared Whispy Woods. "You cannot be allowed to continue your savage mission, so I shall bury you alive!"

Popopo watched as the tree's leafy branches spread, creating an enveloping canopy above that was all their own. Apples grew instantly from every branch, and fell just as quickly.

Before the fruit came crashing down, he inhaled. All the apples falling near him were sucked into his mouth. But then a powerful wind suddenly swept him into the air.

He slammed painfully into a tree, and saw for a split second a barrage of apples headed his way on the wind. He spat the apples in his mouth at the oncoming ones, causing those that would have hit him to burst into stars.

He looked back at Whispy Woods and saw the tree stop blowing wind from his mouth.

Popopo quickly inhaled the apples that had fallen around him and shot them at his opponent. The condensed, star shaped projectile flew at Whispy Woods, whose roots immediately burst from the soil and extended in front of his face, attempting to protect it.

This defense was ineffective. The star smashed straight through the roots and struck Whispy Woods' face.

There was an explosion of bark and wood. When Popopo next saw Whispy Woods, all the bark had been blasted off his face, and sap was dripping from one of his eyes. The tree was still.

Popopo was panting. He was amazed at himself.

"Did you win?" asked 'Gooey'.

"Yeah," Popopo managed to say.

"Excellent! You have just secured the first piece of the Star Rod! Now, reach into Whispy Woods' mouth to claim it."

Popopo did so. The Star Rod shard looked like a piece of a candy cane. It was the end of the stick, white with a pink line spiraling up it.

"Got it," he said.

"Alright, now eat it," said 'Gooey', "and it will bestow its power upon you."

"Eat it?" repeated Popopo. That was an odd instruction.

"Yes, eat it. It will reside inside you until you have assembled all six others, at which point you will be able to summon the Star Rod into existence. In the meantime, each shard you acquire will give you a new power that will aid you on your quest."

"Huh? But..."

"Eat the shard first," interrupted 'Gooey'. "We can discuss any questions you have afterward."


	8. Nomenclature

**Chapter 8: Nomenclature**

Popopo ate the shard.

Nothing happened.

"What... I... Did that really give me a new power?" said Popopo timidly.

"Yes, that it did," said 'Gooey'. "According to my data, you now have the power to copy the ability of whatever you inhale."

"Copy?"

"That is what I said. From now on, after inhaling an enemy, you can either spit it back out as a projectile or swallow it to copy its special ability if it has one."

Popopo didn't know what he was feeling about this latest revelation. Was it perhaps a tiny bit of excitement? Was he actually looking forward to using this new power? A number of seconds passed in silence.

"Is there something else you're wondering about?" said 'Gooey'.

Popopo shook himself slightly. "Uh, yeah I guess. Why do the shards give me powers? They're... broken pieces."

"Hmm, well, I was once in contact with someone I have never met in person, someone named Sah-koo-rye."

There was more silence for a few moments before Popopo responded, "But, that doesn't answer..."

"Yes, yes. I'm getting there," interrupted 'Gooey'. "This person gave me the job of aiding 'the one who will be left alone'. That 'one' has turned out to be you. Sah-koo-rye gave me instructions, which always turned out to be the right courses of action, and information, which I would always find later to be true. He seemed to know the future, but never spoke like a prophesier. Another example of information he gave me was about the powers that Star Rod shards can grant a person imbued with the power from the Fountain of Dreams. You see, I had no idea at the time why he was giving me this information, but now I know."

After a moment's pause, he continued, "Remember when I spoke of 'destiny'? This is really what I was talking about. It's just too bad I was never able to ask him many questions, and not once did he ever pick up when _I_ called _him_."

There was a much longer silence after this speech. Popopo was stunned. He had just learned the true reason why he had been given this mission. Some mysterious fortune teller had just told 'Gooey' to take care of it? But then he remembered the question that had prompted 'Gooey' to make his speech, and realized that it still hadn't been answered.

"But..." said Popopo again, "that still doesn't explain why the Star Rod shards give me powers."

"They just do, Kirby!" snapped 'Gooey'. "I don't know why they do, but they do, all right?"

There was yet another pause before the Dream Lander spoke again.

"What's 'Kirby'?" he asked.

"What?" 'Gooey' was clearly startled. "How do you know that name?"

"That's not a name."

"How do you know it?" asked 'Gooey' again.

"You just said it."

"I did?"

"Yeah."

"Oh. Sorry about that, then." 'Gooey' sighed slightly. "I might as well explain. Kirby was an associate of mine. He was a hominid, and died of old age a few years ago. Hominids have far shorter lifespans than Dream Landers, and I myself age even slower than Dream Landers. So, although we were great friends, I don't feel like I knew him for very long."

"But..." Popopo still couldn't get past this. "'Kirby' isn't a name. Real names abide by the one-sound-three-times rule."

"Oh, that's just a pointless Dream Lander thing. Names don't have to be like that."

"Hey! It's not a pointless Dream Lander thing! Everyone follows that rule."

"Well, they obviously don't, or I wouldn't have the name Gooey."

"But..."

"Popopo, the world is much bigger than what you have known as a Dream Lander. You have been ignorant for a long time, and you should accept the things I tell you as we go. It is imperative that we trust one another, or Dark Matter will never be defeated."

Popopo gulped.

"So," said 'Gooey', "believe me when I say that Dream Lander names are not the only names possible. 'Gooey' and 'Kirby' are both real names that are held by real people (or was held in Kirby's case)."

"Okay. They're real. I get it."

"Do you really believe me?" 'Gooey' sounded unconvinced. "I am offering you truths that almost no Dream Lander has ever learned before, to help you on a quest the likes of which no Dream Lander has ever gone on before."

It was finally clear to Popopo that he needed to adapt to this bigger world in order to stand a chance in it. He couldn't resist anymore.

"Yes, I believe you. Gooey is a real name," he said, believing it at last.

"Good," replied Gooey, satisfied. "Now, speaking of names, it is time for you to assume a pseudonym."

"A pseudo..."

"A pseudonym. A false name."

"You mean like the one you called me?"

"What?"

"You called me Kirby."

"No, no. A pseudonym, or alias, is a name you use instead of your real one, to conceal your identity. But, wait... What a brilliant idea!"

"What?"

"You can use Kirby's name!"

"...What?"

"Alright, here's my idea." Gooey's smart-alecky tone was back in place. "Kirby was my lawyer, right?"

"I... I don't know what that-"

"Well, he had another business, a sort of hobby, and it was a line of vacuum cleaners! Ha!"

"...Okay..."

"You see, it'll really confuse people if we give you the same name as a guy who once sold vacuums. At least, it might. Kirby wasn't very well known. But anyway, I... have a slight habit of calling people 'Kirby', as you've already witnessed. He... well, he was my only contact for quite a while after Sah-koo-rye stopped calling. Your name change won't cure my habit, of course, but it will make it no longer a problem."

Popopo considered this. Taking on a new name would be like finalizing his change of lifestyle. But, it would also ensure no one would go after him when he changed his name back to Popopo at the end of his quest.

"You do need an alias, Popopo. It will-"

"Yeah, I know." It was Popopo's turn to interrupt. "I'll do it. I'll be Kirby."

"You will?" Gooey finally sounded pleased. "Excellent! That makes things much easier."

"Alright. So, I just say I'm Kirby and answer to Kirby... and then that'll be it?"

"Right." Gooey then switched to a more businesslike tone. "So, Kirby, a Warp Star is on its way to take you to Butter Building, above which the next Star Rod shard is located, in Castle Lola."

"Got it," said Kirby as the Warp Star landed.


	9. Getting Into It

**Chapter 9: Getting Into It**

The Warp Star landed in front of the entrance to Butter Building, unceremoniously depositing Kirby on the ground.

"Ow," muttered Kirby, picking himself up off the ground. "Hey, Gooey, how can I keep from falling off these things?"

"Hm," responded Gooey unreassuringly. "You just have to get used to it, I suppose."

"Get used to falling down?"

"No, get used to it stopping." He paused and then added, "You need to anticipate it."

Kirby sighed and looked up at Butter Building, which loomed in front of him.

Butter Building was roughly cylindrical and made of dark gray-brown stone, supported by long metal beams that created a large mesh within the walls. The structure, however, was falling into disrepair. Large holes had appeared in the walls, exposing the metal beams. These wide openings in the tower's sides looked as though they were in a perpetually crumbling state.

"So, this is Butter Building..." said Kirby.

"Indeed. Butter Building was once a gigantic, and overly elaborate in my opinion, shrine to the sun and moon. As you can see, it has been in disuse for a long time. Its yellow sheen wore off long ago, and now it's populated by rogue creatures from nearby locales. These creatures are to be considered enemies, as they will undoubtedly attempt to resist your passage through their home. Also, you need practice using your new power, so be sure to take advantage of this opportunity by combating these enemies."

"Right."

"Your mission is to locate the tube inside Butter Building that will lead you upward into Castle Lola. I cannot send you directly into Castle Lola itself by way of a Warp Star because the castle is made of an alloy too dense to penetrate. In order to locate the tube, you will have to search each floor before ascending to the next one, as you won't be able to enter the tube if you move up past its entrance. I'm certain that you'll recognize it if you see it from below, however."

"Alright."

"You got all that? Good. Now, enter."

Kirby did so.

Everything was a mess inside. Many areas had caved in, leaving rubble strewn all over.

A Waddle Dee rounded a corner nearby. This Waddle Dee's body was a pale orange, instead of being brown like those of the forest Waddle Dees. Kirby ran forward and inhaled it, but when he swallowed it, nothing happened.

"...Wasn't I supposed to get an ability or something by swallowing an enemy?" asked Kirby, confused.

"Not all enemies have special abilities, Kirby. What did you just inhale?"

"A Waddle Dee."

"Yeah, Waddle Dees definitely won't give you anything. They're about the weakest enemies you're probably ever going to fight. Just look for the tube I told you about and try swallowing anything that gets in your way. You'll copy an ability eventually."

"Alright," said Kirby again.

As Kirby explored, he encountered a number of Bronto Burts and two Gips, which were limbless winged pigs. Yet, none of them gave him new abilities when swallowed. It wasn't until he inflated and flew up to the second floor (through a hole in the ceiling, rather than taking the caved-in stairs) that he encountered a Hot Head. Hot Heads were orange creatures with flaming backsides, large eyes and round, nozzle-like mouths, out of which they could breathe fire. Upon seeing the Dream Lander, this one shot a ball of fire in his direction.

Though Kirby had seen the attack coming, he was a little surprised how easily he dodged. He then quickly approached and inhaled the Hot Head.

When he swallowed, stars suddenly burst in front of his eyes. On his head appeared an orange-and-blue striped headband with a round metal plate at its front. On the plate appeared a hexagonal emerald. Finally, the top of his head lit on fire.

"Fire!" exclaimed both Kirby and Gooey together.

"I can feel it!" continued Kirby. "And I know how to use it, too!"

Two Bronto Burts were flying towards Kirby, and he promptly breathed fire in their direction. The two creatures burst into flames and disappeared in flashes of stars.

He could copy enemies' abilities! Kirby's head swam with the possibilities. But then, something else suddenly struck him: Was he actually having fun with this?

Moments later, another question surfaced in his mind, and this one he voiced.

"Gooey, how is it you knew I have Fire ability?"

"Ah yes, I should explain," replied Gooey. "The cell phone inside you can detect your vitals. Indeed, I not only know where you are at all times, but also what your health is, and what abilities you have. I probably shouldn't get into the technical stuff about how this vital monitoring works, as it's quite complicated and not necessary for you to know."

"Right," said Kirby as he turned a corner and saw a number of small humanoids huddled together. They weren't human, though, as they had the large, legless feet of many of the denizens of Dream Land, including Dream Landers; these beings' feet were pointier than Dream Landers', however, and resided in yellow shoes. The little men also had large heads, and dressed in blue bodysuits, with blue nightcaps. They didn't look anything like the animals around this area. Kirby wondered if they could talk.

"Hello?" he said hesitantly.

"Intruder!" yelled every single one of the little men simultaneously in high-pitched voices. Then Kirby was shocked to see each one suddenly pull weapons from nowhere. Bombs, boomerangs and boxing gloves were readied for combat.

"He could be a spy for the yellows!" exclaimed a number of the little men.

"We must protect our Senior!" responded the others. Though they sounded very angry, their facial expressions never changed from happy smiles.

"No, wait, I'm not..." began Kirby, but he stopped as a boomerang was thrown in his direction.

He tried the usual tactic of sucking it up, but for some reason the suction of this inhale was only as powerful as it had been before he'd embarked on his quest! The boomerang cut into his cheek and he immediately lost his Fire ability. Dream Landers don't have blood, however, so the cut didn't start to bleed.

He yelled in surprise. That had hurt!

"Kirby!" exclaimed Gooey.

Kirby incredulously tried inhaling again, and this time it worked. Apparently, he couldn't perform his special inhale when he had a copied ability.

The boomerang that had been thrown was thrown again. This time, he inhaled it and swallowed.

Another burst of stars flashed in front of his eyes. A yellow hat, which had a visor at its front, two black eyes painted onto it above the visor, and two little white wings on its sides, appeared on his head. On top of the hat appeared a curved metal blade.

"Cutter ability!" declared Gooey.

Kirby grabbed the blade on his hat and threw it at his opponents. They recoiled, but not enough to prevent the blade, which curved through the air like a boomerang, from slicing through one of them, causing it to disappear with accompanying stars.

The little men sprang into action. Those carrying bombs lobbed their bombs and the other carrying a boomerang threw its boomerang.

Kirby's blade returned to him. He caught it and immediately ran out of the way of the bombs and boomerang coming at him. He threw the blade again, cutting down another opponent.

More bombs came his way. He jumped to the side, but was burned by the flames of the bombs' explosions. Kirby felt himself begin to lose his Cutter ability, and he concentrated to keep it from disappearing. Somehow, he managed it, but in his moment of surprise success, one of the boxing gloved enemies punched him in the face.

He yelled in pain and frustration. With no ability anymore, he inhaled, and a bomb that was about to hit him entered his mouth. But instead of swallowing, he hit the enemy in front of him with the star shaped shot.

He ran forward and inhaled, slurping up another opponent, and shot the star at one of the two remaining. Now there was only one left. It pulled out another bomb, but Kirby quickly inhaled it and its weapon before it could do anything else. With nothing to fire at, Kirby swallowed.

Stars flashed for a third time, and a blue hat identical to the ones the little men had worn appeared on his head.

"Bomb ability!" declared Gooey.

Kirby raised a hand and a bomb materialized in it. He threw it at a wall, and it exploded on contact.

_This is all so amazing,_ he thought. _If only it didn't... _hurt_ so much._

Indeed, his injuries from the battle were starting to ache painfully.

"Gooey..." he said, groaning slightly due to the pain, "is there anything you can do about..."

"Your injuries?" Gooey cut Kirby short. "Well, have you cleared the area of all enemies?"

"Yeah. I won, but I got hurt..."

"Yes, yes, I know. Is there an opening near you in the side of Butter Building? I'm going to send you a curative via Warp Star, but I don't want to bash in any walls here. Butter Building is quite unstable and we don't want it to collapse."

"...Alright. I see one."

"Okay, go stand by it."

"...It's kind of high up."

"Then float up to it."

Kirby inflated, but winced as this caused the cut in his side to throb painfully. He flapped his arms as best he could through the pain and eventually made it up to the opening, where he deflated and hung onto one of the metal bars sticking out of the wall.

"Gooey," he panted, realizing another problem, "I'm tired too. I haven't slept in... too long. Could I go home and get some rest?"

"We'll deal with that in a moment. Did you get up to the opening?"

"Yeah."

"Well then, I'm sending the Warp Star. It should arrive momentarily. I couldn't send it when there were enemies around, you see, because I can't run even the slightest risk of my Warp Star technology getting into the wrong hands."

The Warp Star soared down and stopped in front of Kirby. On top of it was a large tomato, which had a black M on its front.

"A tomato?" said Kirby inquisitively.

"A _Maxim Tomato_!" proclaimed Gooey. "Now, _this_ is something I wish _I_ had figured out how to make. My world-renowned chef here, Cook Kawasaki, has invented the ultimate food in the universe... for Dream Landers that is. This one tomato is guaranteed to cure anything that ails you; that includes cuts, burns, and even fatigue! Eat these regularly and you'll never have to sleep again, nor will you have to eat anything else!"

"No..." Kirby's eyes widened slowly. "You can't be serious."

"Oh, but I _am. _It's just too bad this stuff doesn't work on anything but Dream Landers and other organisms with similar food consumption abilities. You see, any creature that has to excrete any of its food at some point after eating will not benefit from the curative properties of Maxim Tomatoes. I myself am lucky in that I do not have to do such a thing, so Maxim Tomatoes are my sole source of nourishment. This way I can stay awake and alert perpetually, and never be away when you have need of me."

Kirby had only vaguely followed Gooey's talk. There was something in there about creatures that have to excrete stuff that he didn't understand. He was currently preoccupied by the prospect of never having to eat or sleep again. Eating and sleeping were two of the most core aspects of Dream Lander life. How could he just give them up?

"...You there?" said Gooey. "You haven't responded or eaten the Maxim Tomato yet."

At this point, Kirby's cut gave another twinge, and he figured that it would be best to at least eat this Maxim Tomato so he could heal up.

He leaned forward and picked up the food item. The Warp Star flew away the instant it was relieved of its cargo. He put the Maxim Tomato in his mouth and swallowed.

Energy soared back into his system. He was suddenly wide awake, and felt his wounds disappear.

"Wow!" he exclaimed, unable to control himself.

"Glad you like it," acknowledged Gooey smugly. As Kirby floated back down to the floor, Gooey continued, "And now we must discuss the beings that gave you those injuries you just cured."

"What about them?"

"They were wearing blue, correct?"

"Yeah."

"Well, they are known as the blue-suited Poppy Brothers Juniors, though they are more commonly referred to as the blue PBJs. They live to serve their leader, and creator, the blue-suited Poppy Brothers Senior. The rivalry between the blue-suited Poppy Brothers Senior and the yellow-suited Poppy Brothers Senior has been escalating for years. It is now at the point where the blue PBJs and yellow PBJs have been fighting a small war against each other, trying to assassinate their rival color's Senior. The Poppy Brothers triplets are all bad eggs. The blue-suited one has been using his PBJs to terrorize the populations of Butter Building, Yogurt Yard and Grape Garden, so as to create a base for his army. The yellow-suited one has likely joined up with one of the rogue organizations, like the Underwater Mafia, the Eye Minds or the Meta Clan, rather than trying to make it on his own like his blue-suited brother. Well, probably not the Underwater Mafia, as he's not exactly suited for underwater travel, but I digress. The red-suited one disappeared a while back, but he was a crook. If you meet any of these Poppies, eliminate them."

"...Alright," said Kirby. He would not have followed all of Gooey's speech if it weren't for his newly reenergized state.

He walked into another area of Butter Building's second floor, and a Como, a brown spider-like creature, came down in front of him, hanging from the ceiling on a strand of webbing.

Kirby immediately threw a bomb at it, destroying it instantly.


	10. Moving Up

**Chapter 10: Moving Up**

Kirby continued to search each floor of Butter Building, fighting more and more enemies on his way. One type of enemy he fought frequently was the blue-suited Poppy Brothers Juniors. Word had apparently reached the others that he was killing them off, so the PBJs on higher floors did not hesitate to attack upon spotting him. Despite these battles being good ways to hone his skills, they did make progress through Butter Building difficult.

He ate a Maxim Tomato whenever he was hurt. He had accepted that they were the best thing for him at the time, and reasoned that all he would have to do to resume his previous lifestyle would be to stop taking them. He did like eating them, though.

On the 17th floor, however, things began to get thoroughly monotonous. It didn't seem like he was ever going to find the tube to Castle Lola that he was searching for.

A number of Flappers, scraggly bat-like creatures, swarmed down at him from the ceiling, but he torched them all with the Fire ability he had recently copied from another Hot Head.

Satisfied with his search of the 17th floor, he flew up to the 18th.

A Starman, a yellow, star shaped, cape wearing creature, flew low over Kirby's head, and then swerved back around to tackle him. But Kirby breathed fire on it, eliminating it.

He stepped through an opening in a wall and found himself in a short corridor, at the end of which there were two Grizzo, one on either side of an odd metal door. The instant they spotted the Dream Lander, they lunged at him, but fire from his mouth stopped them in their tracks.

With the two Grizzo out of the way, Kirby walked over to the door, opened it, walked through it, and closed it behind him.

He was now in a large, square room. The walls were made of the same type of stone as the rest of Butter Building, but had darkened blast marks all over them. Clearly many bombs had exploded in this room.

Across from the door that Kirby had entered through was another door, and in front of this one stood a tall version of the blue-suited Poppy Brothers Juniors. This was obviously the blue-suited Poppy Brothers Senior that Gooey had spoken of. Standing on his tiptoes, the Senior was about three times Kirby's height.

Still on his tiptoes, the Senior began to bounce from one foot to the other. His eyes were on Kirby.

"You're the one who's been killing all my Juniors, huh," said the Senior. He had a pompous voice of average pitch. "A Dream Lander with special powers, eh? My Juniors were right when they told me about you. Well, you know what people say: 'If you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself.' So I'm here to kill you like my minions couldn't." His voice then became more aggressive and angry, though his cheerful facial expression never wavered. "You're gonna pay for what you did to my army!"

The Senior pulled a bomb from nowhere and threw it at Kirby, who dodged and ran towards him. The Senior threw more bombs, bouncing on his toes around the room away from his pursuer. Kirby tried using his fire breath, but his opponent was always too far away!

Finally the Senior stopped moving and just bounced in one spot long enough for Kirby to dodge bombs and get over to him. But as soon as Kirby opened his mouth to breathe fire, the Senior jumped out of the way and hit him with one of his bombs.

Kirby shrieked in pain and lost his Fire ability. Luckily, Dream Lander skin is very resilient, and the gray burn on his side was not severe enough to incapacitate him.

He quickly rolled to the side to avoid another of the Senior's bombs. Then he stood back up, shaking slightly due to the pain.

"Ha!" laughed the blue-suited Poppy Brothers Senior. "I'm much better trained than the Juniors you fought! You'll never beat me!" And he threw another bomb.

Kirby inhaled and swallowed the bomb to acquire Bomb ability!

Both he and the Senior threw a bomb at the same time. The two explosives met in midair and blew up.

"Copying our abilities, eh?" said the Senior as the smoke cleared. "They mentioned you could do that. But you'll never be as good as the original!"

The Senior threw another bomb. Kirby dodged and threw a bomb of his own. The Senior jumped out of the way and threw another of his. Kirby leaped over this bomb and threw yet another.

This went on for a few hectic minutes, with both combatants jumping every which way, throwing bomb after bomb at each other. But then the blue-suited Poppy Brothers Senior threw two bombs at once, and before Kirby could jump out of the way to let them fly by him, they touched each other in midair and exploded!

He shrieked again as the flames scorched his face and made him lose his Bomb ability. He could hear the Senior laugh, "Ha! I gotcha!"

He struggled to get up, and managed to stand. His eyes were watering from the pain of his burns.

"Still want more?" jeered the Senior. "Allow me to finish you off!"

As the Senior threw a bomb, Kirby inhaled, and then immediately shot the star shaped projectile back at the Senior, who did not dodge the fast moving star quickly enough.

It hit him right in the chest, and now it was the Senior's turn to shriek in pain as the blow knocked him to the ground. Little stars began spurting from his body like sparks.

Kirby inhaled again.

"N-no!" wheezed the Senior as he began to slide toward Kirby's mouth. "You can't!"

He pulled out a bomb in desperation, but it was immediately sucked up by Kirby, who shot the star back at the Senior.

When this shot hit the blue-suited Poppy Brothers Senior, he exploded in a huge shower of stars.

Kirby stood there for a few moments, trying to ignore the pain his burns were causing him.

"Did you win?" asked Gooey.

"Y-yeah," answered Kirby.

"Really excellent work, Kirby," said Gooey proudly. "If you can get to the nearest opening in Butter Building, I'll send you a Maxim Tomato."

Kirby turned back to the door he came through, opened it, walked through the corridor on the other side, walked through the room after that, and came to a large hole in Butter Building's side.

"Okay," he said. "I'm here."

After he had eaten the Maxim Tomato, Gooey spoke again.

"You beat one of the three Poppy brothers! I was listening to the fight the entire time and I could tell you were doing some impressive dodging. Very nice job."

"Bombs don't move very fast..." replied Kirby modestly. Having regained his health and energy, he was finally feeling the happiness of success. "And I got a lot of practice fighting the PBJs."

"Well, that's one less menace Dream Land has to deal with," said Gooey merrily. "Now you just have to get up into Castle Lola. Hopefully you'll find that tube soon; you're nearing the top of the Building." His voice then became more contemplative as he added, "It's odd, because I thought the tube started farther down than this."

Kirby turned around and ventured back into the room where he had fought the blue-suited Poppy Brothers Senior, exiting it through the door on the opposite side.

The area beyond the door was a short amount of flooring at the edge of a precipice. Kirby looked over the edge to see a sheer drop to a floor much farther down. Between him and the floor far below soared a huge cluster of Starmen. There was no way he would be able to go down that way without getting hit by them repeatedly. Yet, did he want to go down at all?

"Gooey," he said uncertainly, "I found a vertical tube in Butter Building."

"Excellent! I was starting to worry there."

"But... it goes down, not up."

"Oh." Gooey sounded let down.

"There's something weird about this tube, though," said Kirby, noticing something. "It doesn't have any holes in its sides. There's no way I could have reached it from any of the lower floors."

"Oh?" Gooey seemed to perk up again. "Hey, try floating down there. I have an idea."

"But, there are too many Starmen in the way. I don't want to get hurt by them."

"Hm. Well, see if you can find an ability to deal with them. Bomb might work."

"Alright."

Kirby turned around and walked back through the room with doors. He walked through the corridor on the other side and emerged in another room. He looked up at the ceiling and spotted a hole. He flew through it and found himself in an even more derelict looking part of Butter Building. This place was clearly being slowly crushed by Castle Lola a few floors above it.

He walked a few steps, but then stopped, thinking he might as well just go back down to search for enemies with abilities he could copy. There didn't seem to be any life up here.

It was then that he noticed some movement below him, looked at his feet, and saw a shadow growing beneath him.

He immediately jumped out of the way as fast as he could, barely avoiding a brown rock that slammed down exactly where he had been standing.

The rock then opened two eyes on its front, stood up on two small, yellow feet, and began slowly walking toward Kirby.

Without giving the Rocky a chance to do anything else, Kirby ran forward, inhaled it, and swallowed.

There was a familiar flash of stars before his eyes. A dark blue metal dome of a hat, with a tan rim and a yellow star at the front, appeared on his head. Metal plates of the same design extended down his back, and a tuft of light-red hair appeared above the hat.

"Stone ability!" declared Gooey.

"This will work," said Kirby, smiling.

He returned to the area with the precipice.

He jumped off and activated his power, transforming into a large rock. He plummeted down through the Starmen, crushing them beneath him, and hit the ground with great force. Luckily, the floor didn't give way beneath him.

He transformed back into himself and saw an archway in front of him that led to another area of Butter Building. But as he walked over to it, he was hit hard in the back of the head.

He was startled severely by this blow, and his Stone ability was lost. He spun around to see Starmen flying at him. He had obviously angered the swarm.

He inhaled. A number of Starmen entered his mouth, and he shot a large star at the others, blasting apart the swarm. He inhaled another Starman and swallowed.

Yet another flash of optic stars heralded a new copy ability. A red and blue cape appeared that was attached to a golden headband on Kirby's head with little fastenings that looked like the wings on the Cutter ability's hat.

"Hi-Jump ability!" declared Gooey.

Kirby jumped into the air, soaring upward and smashing into Starmen, each of which disappeared in a burst of stars.

This was apparently too much for the remaining Starmen, which retreated, flying up the tube and through the door at the top. Kirby momentarily considered going after them, but he'd never be able to catch up.

He walked through the archway to enter another tube, this one leading straight up for a long, long way. Unlike the first tube, this one had metal beams crisscrossing through it.

"Gooey," asked Kirby, "is this the tube I'm looking for?"

"You're in one that goes up now?" replied Gooey hopefully. "It was through a door at the bottom of the one that went down, wasn't it?"

"Yeah," affirmed Kirby. "But this one has metal bars through it all the way up."

"Sounds about right to me! This should lead you to Castle Lola! ...finally."

"Good."

Kirby used his Hi-Jump ability to spring upward. His enhanced jump brought him all the way up to the first bar. He landed on it and leaped into the air again.

Suddenly, an explosion rocked the tube he was in. A part of the wall of Butter Building below him was blasted inward. Debris was strewn everywhere.

An eye twice the size of Kirby's whole body, with a blue iris, floated in through the new breach in the wall. It then turned upward, and a voice came from it.

"Scanning..." said the eye. It had a low, echoing voice, which was godlike despite being monotonous. "Glitch: located and identified. Name: unknown. Category: Star Warrior. Procedure required: deletion."

As it said the last word, four white spikes poked out from behind it and pointed at Kirby, becoming four white circles from his perspective. They began circling around the eye, which started to move in Kirby's direction, speeding up as it went.

"What?" gasped Kirby.

At exactly the same time, Gooey yelled, "Kirby! It's Kracko! Run!"

Instantly panicked, Kirby began Hi-Jumping as fast as he could away from the eye.

He jumped and jumped, landing carefully on each bar before springing upward again. But as Kracko got nearer, Kirby became more and more frantic. This eventually caused him to miss one of the bars and fall back towards the eye!

He quickly landed on another bar and Hi-Jumped to the side, out of Kracko's way as the eye crashed through it.

Kirby inflated and flew up to a higher bar, while Kracko made an about-face and sped downward at him.

He quickly jumped out of the way again. Kracko destroyed the bar he was standing on and he flew up to the next one.

"Assessing..." droned Kracko, attempting to collide with the Hi-Jumper again and running through another bar. "Error: target too fast. Deletion method required: rapid-fire."

Suddenly, the eye began shooting miniature cannonballs from above!

Kirby was too startled by this attack to dodge effectively. After all, how could an eye fire cannonballs? Kirby was hit!

He fell to the side and lost his Hi-Jump ability, but quickly grabbed the bar he was on to prevent himself from dropping. He grimaced as the dent in the top of his head smarted.

"Delete..." droned Kracko.

Kirby could hear Kracko coming down at him and crashing through more bars, so he let go of the bar he was holding onto. Kirby fell past three bars before coming to one he could reach. When he got to this one, he quickly grabbed onto it and swung, releasing at the lowest point of the swing so as to fly off of it, away from Kracko's path.

Miraculously, this worked. Kracko tore past Kirby, who landed on the next bar down.

Kirby looked upward to see a rain of pieces of the destroyed metal bars heading in his direction. He scurried to the wall of the tube as fast as he could, but then remembered he could inhale.

Kracko turned around again and sped back up at Kirby, who shot a large star in its direction.

The star slammed into Kracko's eye, stopping its ascent and blasting it back down about a foot. The eye rolled rapidly, but then focused again on the Dream Lander and resumed speeding in his direction, yet not before Kirby had inhaled again.

One of Kracko's four spikes sped into Kirby's mouth, and was subsequently swallowed.

A flash of stars appeared in Kirby's eyes, while a pink helmet, with a yellow visor and a yellow strap, appeared on his head. Then yellow spikes appeared all over the helmet.

"Needle ability!" declared Gooey.

Kirby activated his ability, turning into a ball of spikes just before Kracko slammed into him.


	11. Boxed In

**Chapter 11: Boxed In**

Kirby opened his eyes. He was in a dark corridor he didn't recognize. In front of him was Kracko's eye, which had stars sparking from it as they had from the blue-suited Poppy Brothers Senior once he had been hit.

"Error... Error..." Kracko was repeating. "Error: target underestimated. Damage taken: significant. Procedure required: interaction postponement."

"Yes!" Gooey's excited voice cut through Kirby's bleariness. "You did it, Kirby!"

The eye rolled to the side and fell through a large, square hole in the floor next to it.

Kirby struggled to get up. He had lost his Needle ability. Upon managing to stand, he went over to the hole and looked down. Below it he saw the tube full of metal bars, but Kracko was gone.

Kirby had made it into Castle Lola.

But he could only blurt, "What _was_ that thing? Kracko? What is it?"

"Kracko..." said Gooey seriously. "Well, no one really _does_ know exactly _what_ it is. What we do know is that it believes itself to be some sort of protector of the peace in Dream Land. Whenever anything is not in its 'proper place', Kracko goes after it and destroys it. Obviously, most Dream Landers do not spend their time doing what you've been doing, so Kracko... You get the picture. The only person in Dream Land I know of who can control Kracko is King Dedede. When he gives Kracko a command, it will follow it, because Dedede's the king."

"Oh."

Kirby felt like there was something he was forgetting, something he wanted to ask Gooey about. It was something Kracko had said...

He tried hard to remember what it was, but couldn't before Gooey spoke again.

"Did you make it into Castle Lola? I can't quite tell from the information my scanners are giving me."

"Yeah."

"Excellent!" said Gooey happily. "Well, I suppose I should tell you what to do now that you're here. You should be in a corridor right now, which I happen to know is the back entrance to the castle. This is not just a castle, by the way, but also the headquarters of Royal Shipping, which is so named because of its initial funding from King Dedede. Lololo and Lalala started this business many, many years ago, back when they arrived on this planet. I'm a longtime friend of theirs, and I've also been one of their best customers, so I should be able to help you get the Star Rod shard from them easily."

"Okay." Kirby was starting to get tired of Gooey's speeches. There had been quite a few of them by this point.

He walked along the dark passageway until he came to a door, which he opened and walked through.

The room on the other side contained lots and lots of huge boxes. The boxes were so large, each one was tall enough to extend from the floor to the relatively low ceiling. They were aligned like walls, creating a passageway that ended with a choice of left or right.

"I heard you go through a door, Kirby," said Gooey. "You should now be in one of the Royal Shipping storage rooms. I'll call the proprietors via my other telephone line to tell them you're here."

"Gooey..." asked Kirby, "why couldn't I have just gone in through the front door instead of trying to find this secret one?"

"Ah, yeah, that." Gooey faltered a bit. "Well, I didn't want you to draw attention to yourself in open airspace. I knew Kracko would probably already be looking for you, and sending you on a trip up close to its usual territory was sure to alert it to your presence in Castle Lola. You can see how well _that _part of the plan went; Kracko found you anyway. But you managed to defeat it for the time being, so it won't bother you here again! The other part of the plan, though, went very well, I must say. You managed to get quite a lot of combat practice in Butter Building, and even eliminated a notorious Dream Land villain as well!"

"Alright," said Kirby. He was actually rather glad he had taken the long route.

"So anyway," finished Gooey, "I'll be calling Lololo and Lalala now."

Kirby heard Gooey punch in a telephone number on another phone, and then heard ringing. It rang three times before someone picked up.

"Yes?" said a faint male voice.

"Hello, Lololo. Gooey here. I want to alert you to the presence of my new associate, Kirby, who has just entered your castle via the back door."

"Gooey..." responded Lololo. "This Kirby... What is its purpose?"

"Kirby's a he. Er, are you all right, though? You're not acting like you usually do."

Kirby heard a click and knew Lololo had hung up.

"Uh-oh," choked Gooey. "Kirby, something's wrong. I think Dark Matter has control of Lololo and Lalala."

"Should I run?" said Kirby anxiously.

"No. Uh... Ergh... If Dark Matter has found a map of this place by now, it'll know exactly how to get to you."

"I shouldn't run?"

Gooey moaned in clear frustration with the situation. "No... You need the Star Rod shard here. Kirby, you will probably have to fight Lololo and Lalala. But, _do not_ kill them. If you can manage to just knock them out, Dark Matter will lose its control over them."

"How am I supposed to do that?"

"Okay, I have an idea. These two have a similar physiology to Dream Landers, so they won't be instantly killed by percussive hits like those from star shots. It's probable that hitting them with one or two of those will do the trick."

"Alright."

There was silence for a short while as Kirby stood waiting. Then, two figures rounded a corner ahead of him.

They were indeed similar to Dream Landers, but they were different in significant ways. They had no visible mouths, for one thing. For another, their eyes were large and circular. Also, they each had a small point on their lower backs like miniature tails. Their feet were white and their bodies were blue and pink respectively (the latter of which wore and orange bow behind the head). And they had short, thin arms that ended in large white gloves. They both turned to face Kirby. The pupils of their eyes were diagonal slits, proving their possession by Dark Matter.

Then Kirby gasped, for something else turned the corner after the two.

It was spherical, about Kirby's size, floating in the air, and made of what looked like super-condensed black smoke. Yet, it was the blackest black Kirby had ever seen.

And then, it opened its eye.

This eye was another object unlike anything Kirby had seen before. It had a red sclera and no iris. White veins permeated the sclera as though the eye were heavily bloodshot. Its pupil was round, and as dark as the smokey blackness that housed the eye.

It stared at the Dream Lander, completely silent.

Kirby didn't know what to do. What was this thing? It looked very bad...

Without warning, it struck. Before Kirby had any time to react, it was upon him.

Everything went black. Kirby lost all feeling in his body. He tried to scream, but no sound escaped his mouth. He didn't even know if he had a mouth anymore.

A horrible feeling of slowness crept over him. He felt sick. He could sense something closing in on him in the darkness. The closer it got, the slower everything seemed to get.

But just as he felt as though everything was about to slow to a stop, stars erupted in front of his eyes as if he was copying an ability. Feeling rushed back into his body. The darkness lifted.

The black sphere burst off of him and sped back down the corridor to the left, out of sight.

"Kirby!" he heard Gooey cry out.

"What... What..." Kirby was shaking. And just then he realized he had fallen over.

"Dark Matter was possessing you! What happened? Where did it go?"

"That... Dark Matter?"

"Yes!" Gooey was frantic. "Where is it? Can you see it?"

"No. It's gone."

"But where did it come from? How is it you were suddenly being possessed?"

Kirby rolled over, slowly coming to his senses. He looked back towards where the eye had stared at him. There was nothing there. Lololo and Lalala were gone too.

"Lololo and Lalala came here," explained Kirby sluggishly. "They were possessed. Then, this black ball came too. It was an eye. It opened... and came at me. Everything went black... It felt terrible... But, stars flashed and the thing sped away."

"...Okay." Gooey was apparently satisfied with Kirby's vague account. "Well, I suppose I should be viewing this as good news. Apparently Dark Matter, and yes, that was Dark Matter, can't possess you if you have even a single shard of the Star Rod inside you."

"Wow." Kirby was glad to feel a bit relieved by this. "That's... good." He slowly went about getting to his feet.

"Indeed. Now, you said Lololo and Lalala were nearby? Where are they now?"

"I don't know." Kirby was puzzled by this. "They disappeared."

"Hm. Well, go look for them. I wonder why they fled..."

Kirby walked forward into the hallway at the end of the T-intersection.

Immediately, two huge boxes sped along the corridors to his left and right. Before he could react, they smashed him between them.

He yelled in pain and pushed back, but with complete futility.

The two boxes were crushing him. He couldn't breathe...

He opened his mouth wide in a vain attempt to inhale one of the boxes, and it crumpled suddenly. Then the box shrunk and entered his mouth!

He had a split second glimpse of Lololo turning and running off down another corridor. But he couldn't do anything about that at the moment, as he was speeding forward uncontrollably, the other box pushing him onward.

He turned around as quickly as he could and shot the star at the box, which exploded!

He was blasted backward, and so was Lalala, who had been pushing the box from the other side.

Both combatants got up quickly. Lalala hastily grabbed a box on her right and pulled it in front of her.

Kirby inhaled, but the box didn't budge. Yet as soon as he stopped, it suddenly sped at him. The box slammed into him, knocking him back.

He got to his feet once more. His face would definitely be sore after this fight.

The box had stopped moving again. He tried inhaling a second time, but the box still didn't move.

He stopped inhaling, and then immediately resumed doing so as the box came at him.

It worked. As the box reached him, it entered his mouth, and he immediately shot it back at Lalala. But the projectile missed as she scurried down another corridor.

Before Kirby could do anything else, he was hit from behind by another box! He fell forward, his back starting to ache as well as his face.

He spun around and tried to suck in this box, but to no avail. Yet, when he stopped, the box still didn't move. He tried inhaling again, but no matter whether he was inhaling or not, the box remained immobile.

He went right up to the box and pushed it, but not even that could move it.

He was perplexed. He tried turning and inhaling one of the boxes that made up a side of the corridor he was in. This didn't work either. He tried moving it physically by grabbing it and forcing it, but couldn't.

It was time to ask about this.

"Gooey?"

"Yes?"

"How come Lololo and Lalala can move the boxes easily and I can't at all?"

"Superstrength," explained Gooey simply.

"Oh."

"You need to be careful, Kirby." Gooey's tone became more serious. "They will likely try to trap you in an area of this storage room by blocking all exits with boxes. With your current abilities, from that there will be no escape. Avoid being 'boxed in' at all costs."

"Right."

Kirby turned around and walked down the corridor Lalala had run through.

He kept walking straight, passing other corridors on the left and right.

All of a sudden, a box on his left hit him in the side. It must have been placed at the end of a side corridor to fool him! He ran in a different direction, turning corners at random.

He stopped at a four-way intersection and rotated on the spot, waiting for Lololo or Lalala to pass by.

Something blue sped past to his right. He ran in that direction, but Lololo spotted him and moved one of the big boxes in front of him.

Blocked, Kirby skidded to a halt and ran in the opposite direction. He turned left at the intersection. But halfway to the next corner, he saw a box move to cut him off.

_Oh-no!_ he thought. _If they trap me in here..._

He ran as fast as he could in the opposite direction, running straight through the intersection. Just as he got to the end, a box slid out to block him, but he ran right up next to the box and inhaled before it stopped moving.

It shrank and entered his mouth. Before Lololo could duck out of the way, Kirby hit him in the face at pointblank range with a star shot.

Lololo was blasted backward. He slammed into the box behind him and slid to the floor.

Despite this hit being quite powerful, Kirby figured he himself would not have been knocked out had it been him on the receiving end. Lololo and Lalala must not be quite as resilient as Dream Landers, for Lololo slumped to the side, eyes closed.

Kirby looked around. He was in another T-intersection, but one path from here led to a dead end, and another led back to the four-way intersection, which he was sure was now completely blocked off. This left him with only one way out.

He ran towards it, but Lalala had already turned the corner at the end of it. She quickly pulled a box between her and the oncoming Dream Lander.

Kirby, eyes wide, ran back to the four-way intersection to make sure it was all blocked.

It was. He was boxed in.

He stood in silence for a moment. Almost paralyzed from anxiety, he managed to squeak, "Uh..."

"What happened?" Gooey cut in worriedly. "They didn't... trap you... did they?"

"I'm stuck," said Kirby in despair.

Gooey growled a word that Kirby didn't know.

"What?"

"Sorry," apologized Gooey, though he sounded very frustrated. "But..." Then he sighed, calming down a bit, yet his voice was still noticeably stressed as he continued, "I suppose there's no other option; I have to send in reinforcements. I was very much hoping to avoid this. They're really going to have to stick their necks out for you to get you out of this fix, Kirby."

Kirby remained uncomfortably silent, and moments later he heard Gooey dial a number on his other phone. It only rang once before someone answered.

"Hello," said a girly voice on the other end.

"Uh, hello?" said Gooey. He sounded taken aback, as though this wasn't the person he had intended to call. "Who is this?"

"It's Chuchu. Who is _this_?"

"Gooey."

Kirby then heard a very faint voice that sounded like it was coming from someone talking in the background of Chuchu's end.

"His name's Gooey," said Chuchu. "Kind of a weird name, isn't it?"

The speaker in the background said something else.

"'Kay," said Chuchu.

Then she must have handed the phone over to the other person, because that voice spoke clearly, "Hey Gooey old pal! It's been _ages_ since I last heard your voice. Got your email about how you're handling the missing Star Rod business. Sleeping's just not as restful without it, you know? Do you? I know you don't sleep, so I gotta tell you these things. So, you calling to give us an update or ask for help or what? Just so you know, we may be real busy real soon; getting worrying reports from Iceberg, and you know what that could mean. But it's great to talk to you no matter what's going on. So what's going on?" The voice was of average male pitch and somewhat racing.

"Hello, Rick," replied Gooey, sounding a little relieved. "Who was that who answered the phone?"

"Oh, Chuchu?" said Rick. "She's our new fighter. Haven't had one in ages, you know. Got lots to tell ya."

"Unfortunately I don't have time for that right now," cut in Gooey solemnly. "We have a situation."

"You never just call to chat, do ya? I'll put you on speakerphone. Everyone's here at the moment. You can fill us in."

"Thanks." Gooey then proceeded to tell Rick, Chuchu, and whomever else was there, Kirby's story so far, though he did not reveal Kirby's real name to them. Gooey also made it clear that Kirby could hear him speaking, and would be able to hear them if they spoke as well.

The listeners kept quiet throughout the explanation of the events that led to their involvement.

"That's some Dream Lander," said a second male voice, which was lower and sort of smooth sounding.

"Hey Kine, he can hear us right now," said a third to the second. This voice was scratchy and higher than average in pitch. "Hey Kirby, good stuff you've been doing."

"Uh, thanks," replied Kirby.

"Okay," interrupted Gooey. "We don't have time for you to talk with Kirby. Dark Matter is slowly spreading as we speak."

"Right." Kirby recognized Rick's voice. "Talk to you later, Gooey."

They hung up.

"Who..." began Kirby.

"The League of Animals for Protection," explained Gooey. "L.A.P. for short."

"Gooey? ...Is that you?"

Kirby jumped and turned, startled. Lololo was walking toward him, but his pupils weren't slits anymore. They were circular and had purple irises around them now. Yet his eyes were squinted, and he was rubbing his head, which was clearly aching significantly.

"Who are you?" Lololo had a strangely muffled voice.

"I'm Kirby," said Kirby. "I... I just freed you from Dark Matter's possession."

"Lololo?" said Gooey.

Lololo stared at Kirby. "What? That sounds like Gooey."

Kirby reached into his mouth and pulled out the cell phone.

"We talk to each other with this," he said.

"Lololo!" said Gooey from the phone. "You're not possessed anymore! Wonderful! Kirby, why didn't you tell me you had freed him? He can get you out of here! I called the L.A.P. for no reason!" He sighed pointedly. "Well, they'll have left already, so I'll leave them a message in a bit. Hopefully they'll get it before they jump in to try to save you."

"Don't be so hard on the guy, Gooey," said Lololo. "He's only a Dream Lander."

_What's that supposed to mean?_ thought Kirby. He then, as best he could, made a face that asked this question.

Lololo seemed to second-guess himself upon seeing Kirby's expression.

"Well, I _think_ he's a Dream Lander," he said. "Come to think of it..." He addressed Kirby. "Shouldn't you have a name like Kikiki? I'm pretty sure Dream Landers follow that rule."

Kirby was very frustrated he could not tell Lololo his real name at this point.

"Kirby isn't an ordinary Dream Lander," said Gooey proudly. "Didn't you hear him say that he saved you from possession by Dark Matter?"

"Yeah, sorry." Lololo put a hand behind his head. "I'm not on top of things today. That was an odd thing to say, though." He then added somewhat jokingly, "I wasn't aware there was anything that owned me."

There was silence for a few moments as Kirby (and presumably Gooey) processed this new information.

"What?" said Lololo, eyeing Kirby quizzically.

"You don't remember any of it?" said Gooey.

"Any of what?"

More silence.

"What's going on?" said Lololo.

Gooey explained all about Dark Matter and Kirby's mission, but with not nearly as much detail as he had given the L.A.P. He was evidently impatient and trying to get things moving again as quickly as possible.

"Hmm," said Lololo when Gooey had finished. "Now that you mention it, I think I heard King Dedede say something about Dark Matter a number of years ago. It was something like... you've been warning us for too long."

"Yes, Lololo," said Gooey, clearly annoyed. "It's true that ever since I came to Pop Star, I've been warning everyone to set up protections against the inevitable arrival of Dark Matter. But, now you see I was telling the truth! Dark Matter is here!"

"I'm sorry Gooey, but your story isn't very believable. Look, for one thing, I think I'd know if I'd been 'possessed' or not. For another, if Dark Matter really is here, how come it took so long to get here? And why is it here now? I heard you've been here for thousands of years. Is that really _true_? Oh, and for _another_, I have trouble believing your tale about this Dream Lander. You can see where I'm coming from, right?"

"Hey," interrupted Kirby, surprising himself. Maybe impatience was getting to him too. "If you want proof Dark Matter's here, meet up with Lalala. I didn't knock her out, so Dark Matter still has her."

"There, see?" said Gooey. "This 'Dream Lander' is on top of things."

"Alright," said Lololo. "Let's find Lalala. I'll get to the bottom of this."

Kirby picked up the phone and put it back in his mouth. Then he and Lololo walked down a corridor and Lololo pushed away the box at the end of it. They continued through the aisles for some time until they came to a door in a wall.

"She won't have stuck around in the storage room," said Lololo, opening the door, on the other side of which was a long hallway.

As they passed one of the doors, faint noises could be heard from the other side. Lololo gave Kirby a silent glance, opened the door, and entered the room with him.

The room was full of filing cabinets, and Lalala was rummaging through one of them. She turned as they entered.

"What?" exclaimed Lololo, apparently upon seeing the pupils of her eyes.

Lalala wasted no time in hurling the cabinet at Lololo, who put up his hands and caught it, sliding some inches backward from the impact. Papers flew from its drawers.

Then she threw another one. Kirby ran forward and inhaled it. Lalala quickly picked up a third cabinet, but Kirby hit her with a star shot. Just like Lololo had been, she was blasted backward into a wall. The cabinet she'd been holding slammed to the floor, papers bursting out of it.

Lalala fell over, unconscious.


	12. Butter Building Revisited

**Chapter 12: Butter Building Revisited**

Kirby left Castle Lola on a Warp Star (which had brought him a Maxim Tomato). The incredulous Lololo and Lalala had told him that they had indeed received a shipment of one Star Rod shard. They had delivered it to its intended recipient, an anonymous individual two floors below in Butter Building. Kirby was to go search for it there. Meanwhile, Lololo and Lalala were going to depart from Pop Star so that they could avoid being possessed again.

Before traveling into Butter Building, Kirby's Warp Star flew a considerable distance away from Castle Lola, stopped in midair, and turned around. For a few moments, why it had done this was not clear.

But then Kirby watched as gigantic rockets blasted from below Castle Lola. The noise was incredible. Slowly, the entire castle lifted off from Butter Building and, picking up speed, shot into the sky.

As Castle Lola disappeared from view, Kirby's Warp Star flew back toward where it had been and entered Butter Building through a hole in the wall. Kirby moaned in frustration as he fell off when it stopped.

He hadn't explored this high up in Butter Building before. This floor was darker than the others, with more crumbling structures everywhere. He noticed a Rocky walking around. He inhaled it and swallowed to acquire Stone ability.

He didn't have to walk far before he found what he was looking for.

It looked like a gigantic safe. There was an appropriately huge door on its front, but it had no handle. He tried to push it open, but it wouldn't budge.

He looked around for something that might explain how to get in. The only other interesting thing he could see was a wooden peg, about his size, in the ground to the left of the door.

He took a guess as to what to do. He jumped above the peg and activated his Stone ability to smash it into the ground.

The door opened. He transformed back from a rock into himself and went through it.

Inside was a huge, amazingly lavish dining room. He wondered what the heck something like this was doing on one of the highest floors of Butter Building. He also wondered what the thing sitting at the huge table was.

From what he could see, it was a giant ape, over five times his height, that was wearing purple body armor. The instant it saw him, however, it sprang into action.

"AAAAAAAARGH!" bellowed the ape. "LITTLE PINK BALL FIND BONKERS!" It then picked up a huge mallet at its side. "BONKERS SMASH PINK BALL!"

The ape, which appeared to be named Bonkers, bounded toward Kirby, knocking the entire table out of its way with its mallet as it went. The table cracked as it collided with a wall. All the decorations on it flew in every direction, as did all the table settings. Plates, glasses and the like smashed excessively.

In no time at all, Bonkers had crossed the room. Before Kirby had time to react, he was dealt a powerful hit with the mallet.

He flew to the side and bounced off a wall, losing his Stone ability. He landed face-up on the ground. The aches in his body that the Maxim Tomato had just recently banished came rushing back.

"BONKERS AM FAST AND STRONG! BONKERS MAKE PANCAKE OUT OF PINK BALL!"

Before Kirby could get up, Bonkers landed a terrific blow on his face.

He yelled in pain and then inhaled. Bonkers' mallet was already on its way to Kirby's face again when Kirby did this. The inhalation happened just in time to forcibly suck up the mallet.

Kirby swallowed, ushering forth a burst of stars in front of his eyes. Two ropes, twisted together, one white and one light blue, appeared like a headband on his head, tied off near the front. And a mallet with a head slightly smaller than his body appeared in his hand.

"Hammer ability!" declared Gooey.

"AAAAAAAARGH!" howled Bonkers as Kirby jumped up, striking him repeatedly with the 'hammer'. "PINK BALL HAVE HAMMER NOW! PINK BALL MAKE BONKERS SO ANGRY!"

Bonkers jumped away from the attacking Dream Lander and ran back across the room to the buffet table, which was piled high with coconuts for some reason.

The ape grabbed a coconut in each hand.

"BONKERS BLOW UP PINK BALL!"

He threw the coconuts wildly. Neither of them even came close to hitting Kirby. They both sailed past him, out the open door.

He turned back to Bonkers, smirking slightly. But then he was startled by the two coconuts exploding behind him.

"AAAAAAAARGH!" bellowed Bonkers again, stomping in frustration. "MALLET AM BONKERS' BEST WEAPON! BONKERS GET REALLY, REALLY ANGRY!"

Bonkers jumped behind the buffet table and kicked it over, sending a mountain of explosive coconuts rolling in Kirby's direction.

Kirby immediately inflated and flew up over the cascade. The coconuts rolled past him. Bonkers jumped up to tackle him, but Kirby quickly deflated to barely dodge the opportunistic attack.

As Bonkers landed, Kirby jumped and spun around, hitting the ape in the face with his hammer.

Bonkers let out a stunned sort of grunt and swayed, dazed. Kirby jumped at him and hit him hard in the stomach.

Bonkers toppled over backwards, and Kirby, realizing what he had done just in time, leapt back.

There was a massive explosion, as all the coconuts blew up at once. Bonkers was immediately engulfed in the flames, while Kirby was blasted backward. He concentrated with all his might to keep Hammer ability and miraculously managed to do so.

But then the situation rapidly became more serious. The combined force of all the coconuts' explosions had blown a whole section out of Butter Building, and the huge safe that Kirby was in was tilting forward.

He quickly ran forward and jumped. He fell downward, past a couple wrecked floors until he landed on a solid one. Then he ran forward again as fast as he could, out of the way of the gigantic safe, which crashed down behind him a moment later.

The safe smashed through the floor and continued downward, wrecking everything it came in contact with.

The whole of Butter Building was shaking now. Pieces of it were falling down everywhere. The entire thing was collapsing.

Kirby ran toward the nearest breach in the building's side.

"Gooey! Send a Warp Star!" he yelled as he ran.

A Warp Star crashed through a wall on Kirby's left. He turned quickly and jumped onto it. It then sped out of Butter Building.

As Kirby's previous Warp Star had done, this one stopped a ways out and turned around.

He watched as Butter Building crumbled, falling inward on itself. Every bit of it broke apart, eventually reducing the once grand structure to nothing more than a massive pile of rubble on the ground.

Kirby was wide-eyed. "But, the Star Rod shard..." he wheezed fretfully.

"You..." Gooey's voice was full of incredulity and restrained emotion. "You destroyed it."

Silence.

Suddenly, Gooey shouted a single word. Kirby had never heard the word before, but the tone of the shout very clearly conveyed the shouter's utter frustration with the situation.

"Now I'm going to have to dial up ANOTHER organization to take care of THIS!" Gooey continued. "It'll be a miracle if we find the shard in this mess in any remotely acceptable timeframe!"

"Wait..." said Kirby. "Something's coming."

A small green-and-white thing was flying up to Kirby from the wreckage of Butter Building. He readied his hammer in case it was a threat.

"What?" said Gooey.

The flying thing turned out to be a small bird with a green back and a white stomach. And in its yellow beak, it held...

"The shard!" exclaimed Kirby in astonishment.

"The shard?" repeated Gooey in disbelief.

Kirby hesitantly reached out to take the shard. When the bird didn't move, he snatched the precious item away from it quickly. He ate the shard immediately afterward.

"How are you doing, Kirby?" chirped the bird.

Kirby jumped slightly. He hadn't expected it to talk.

"Oh, um, I'm doing great now you brought me the shard," he replied.

"Glad to help out," said the bird, its tone matching its words.

"Pitch?" said Gooey. "Is that you?"

"Yep!" chirped the bird.

"You're a lifesaver, Pitch," said Gooey, clearly very relieved. "We would never have found the Star Rod shard in this mess."

"No problem. Have to get going now. Ice Dragon woke up again somehow."

"Good luck!" called Gooey as Pitch flew off.

"Thanks!" tweeted Pitch, disappearing into the distance.

Kirby stood there, unsure what to do. It was growing increasingly weird to have people talk to Gooey through him.


	13. No Walk in the Park

**Chapter 13: No Walk in the Park**

The Warp Star landed in Cloudy Park, a vast landscape of clouds, high in the air. Kirby was thankful for the cloud cushion for his fall from the Warp Star.

"Alright," said Gooey. "The second Star Rod shard gave you the ability to inhale even when you have an ability. Not much of a power boost, I know, especially since if you copy a new ability, the one you already have will be discarded. But, still..." Gooey trailed off.

Then he started up again. "You are here in Cloudy Park to locate the third Star Rod shard. It is unfortunately probable that Kracko guards it, as Kracko will not disobey a command from King Dedede."

"Kracko?" said Kirby worriedly. "You shouted at me to run from it when I first saw it. It doesn't sound like you think I'll stand a chance fighting it."

"Well, now I think it's time that you learned how to-"

"Wait a moment," interrupted Kirby as a couple of Bronto Burts flew in his direction.

Kirby jumped and hit the first one with his hammer. (He still had Hammer ability from his fight with Bonkers.) When that one had burst into stars, he slammed down on the other, with the same result. But as his hammer made contact with the clouds below him, a sudden bolt of electricity flashed in front of him. Out of the bolt appeared a Sparky, a green, cone-shaped creature with two yellow nodes floating around its top and two small black eyes on its front. It jumped toward Kirby and then shot sparks in every direction. But, the sparks' range was pitiful; none of them made it across the two feet between the Kirby and the Sparky. Kirby inhaled the Sparky and swallowed.

A flash of stars erupted across Kirby's vision. A golden tiled circlet, with dark blue tiles at wide intervals, appeared on his head. This circlet also featured a large blue orb at its front. Then light green electricity sparked from the top of his head, accumulating quickly. Within moments, the short lightning was so thick, it look vaguely like fire.

"Spark ability!" declared Gooey.

Kirby tried out his power. Activating it caused an aura of sparks to surround him, but he had to stay still to sustain it.

When Kirby finished, Gooey said, "As I was saying, I think that now is the time for you to begin learning how to fly a Warp Star yourself."

Kirby paused. "...Are you serious? I can't even get off one without falling down. How am I supposed to pilot them?"

"That's what I'm going to try to teach you, Kirby. This skill will be crucial to your survival in the future."

A new Warp Star arrived at Kirby's side. Kirby ate the Maxim Tomato on top of it as Gooey continued, "Mount this Warp Star, Kirby."

"Do I have to right now?"

"Yes. This is very important."

Kirby climbed onto the Warp Star.

"Okay," said Gooey. "Now, flying a Warp Star is actually pretty intuitive. To steer it, you will be using your weight and feet. If you lean forward, the Warp Star will move forward. If you lean backward, the Warp Star will move backward. Lean left or right and the Warp Star will turn in those directions. The harder you lean, the more the Warp Star will move or turn. If you notice, your feet can slide around the surface of the Warp Star, but will not come off of it, unless you jump, which you can do to dismount at any time. Though there's more to flying than just speed and steering, of course. If you move one of your feet to the back of the Warp Star and push as though to move it off, the Warp Star will tilt to face upward at the front. Since your foot cannot leave the Warp Star's surface, you will not be in danger of actually pushing your foot over the edge if you do this. If you do the same thing with your front foot, pushing it as though to push it off the front end, the Warp Star will tilt forward and go into a dive. No matter which way you are facing in any of the three dimensions, the Warp Star will act the same, meaning you can turn 'left' and 'right' even when in a dive, or even when on your side, as you can flip sideways by attempting to push one foot off to the left or right. For example, if you are on your side, tilted to the right, and you lean to _your_ right, the Warp Star will turn to move toward the ground. These are the basics at least; there is more functionality I'll tell you about as time goes on."

It took a moment for Kirby to realize Gooey had stopped talking. The Dream Lander could barely concentrate on all these speeches anymore.

"Well, I think that's everything," said Gooey finally. "We'll take this one step at a time. I have sensors in both you and the Warp Star, so I'll be with you every step of the way. Oh! Wait. One more thing: The Warp Star is very sensitive, and its speeds can exceed 125 miles per hour. (That's over 200 kilometers per hour.) Its handling is the same at all velocities, but, needless to say, flying a Warp Star can require exceptional reflexes at greater speeds. We'll just practice getting you used to flying first. Be careful not to accelerate excessively."

Kirby didn't need telling twice when it came to being careful. Speeds over 125 miles per hour? Gooey had to be kidding!

"Right, well," said Gooey, "start by leaning forward very slightly. This should get the Warp Star moving forward."

Kirby did so. With the very smallest movement on his part, the Warp Star began moving forward. But the acceleration was so instantaneous that Kirby, startled, leaned backward, causing the Warp Star to go into a quick reverse.

He shrieked and leaned forward again, but too much, making the Warp Star speed forward.

"Kirby!" shouted Gooey over the yells of panic. "Stop leaning and the Warp Star will stop moving!"

Kirby stood straight and still as a statue, eyes squeezed shut. The Warp Star stopped.

"Okay," said Gooey. "Rule number one: Don't let the Warp Star's movement startle you into changing its movement."

"I don't wanna do that again..." whimpered Kirby, still standing motionless with his eyes closed.

Despite Kirby's reluctance to continue flying, the tutorial went on for quite a while longer. Leaning on the Warp Star really did turn out to determine how fast it moves, rather than how quickly it accelerates.

They didn't stop until Kirby could consistently follow 'rule number one' of flying a Warp Star, and also steer adequately.

"Very good," said Gooey, finally satisfied. "You may dismount."

Kirby jumped off the Warp Star gratefully and it sped away.

"Conveniently," continued Gooey, "you have landed near the place where Kracko should be keeping the shard."

As Gooey said this, Kirby spotted a conspicuously gigantic cloud ahead of him in some open airspace. But then his thoughts were interrupted by a couple fluffy white balls with faces, which burst out of the clouds at him. These were Mopoo.

Kirby used Spark ability to fry them instantly.

"Is the shard in that big cloud over there?" he asked once the Mopoo were gone.

"I would assume so. I'll send a preset Warp Star to take you into it."

The Warp Star arrived shortly. Kirby got on and it flew toward the cloud. He watched as it got bigger and bigger. It was a colossal, dome-shaped mass.

The Warp Star tilted upward at its front and whooshed into the cloud.

He was astonished to see that the cloud was actually completely hollow, creating a giant arena type space inside of it. Floating high up in the center of the dome was a small ball of much darker clouds that had electricity sparking over its surface.

The Warp Star stopped, and Kirby amazingly managed to not fall off!

"Gooey!" he exclaimed excitedly. "I did it! I didn't fall off!"

He waited for a few moments, but received no reply.

"Gooey?" he repeated, perplexed.

He jumped off the Warp Star and looked around. With no discernible landmarks in sight, he looked back up at that ball of darker clouds. Surely that must be where the shard is. Kracko didn't seem to be around. Kirby thought he might as well just nab the shard and leave before anyone showed up.

He inflated and flew upward, but as he neared the ball of electrified dark clouds, lightning lashed out from it, zapping him!

He landed on the clouds below and lost his Spark ability. Then he heard Kracko's voice.

"Trap: sprung."

The clouds underneath Kirby began to wiggle. He leapt out of the way as Kracko's eye rose from beneath him, pulling up with it a portion of the cloud itself. The eye stayed low, with cloud draped around it, leaving only the front of its eye exposed.

Kirby readied himself.

"Delete..." said Kracko, and it sped at Kirby, who dodged just in time.

The eye sunk back into the clouds, then emerged elsewhere and sped at Kirby again. He dodged again.

Kracko repeated itself once more, but this time it shot a strange beam of short-range yellow sparks at Kirby while moving.

Kirby was hit, but not badly. Dream Landers are very resistant to electricity, as they have highly insulating skin and no circulatory system. And then he was ready for the attack when Kracko tried it again... and again.

"Method of deletion: inadequate," said Kracko.

It then burst from the surface of the cloud and conjured four white spikes around it.

Kracko flew over Kirby and fired small cannonballs at him. He opened his mouth quickly, inhaled the cannonballs, and swallowed, but unfortunately didn't copy an ability.

Then Kracko dropped a number of bombs in his direction. Just like everything new that Kracko had done so far, this startled Kirby. But he inhaled the bombs like the cannonballs and swallowed, copying Bomb ability!

He took aim and threw a bomb, which exploded right on target. Kracko was blasted backward slightly, its eye rolling.

"Method of deletion: inadequate," said Kracko.

Kirby watched as Kracko's spikes turned gold, and then split into three smaller spikes each. These twelve smaller, golden spikes began to circle Kracko's eye, rapidly increasing in speed. Clouds materialized around the eye, forming an oval-shaped mass around it. Then the spikes stopped and stuck their blunt ends into the sides of the cloud.

The cloud dome Kirby and Kracko were in began to get darker. As it did, electricity sparked around Kracko, and then the clouds around its eye were suddenly engulfed in dancing lightning.

"Power level: maximum," droned Kracko.

_Uh-oh,_ thought Kirby.

Amazingly bright white lightning bolts shot straight out of all twelve of Kracko's spikes at once. The bolts struck the surfaces of the giant hollow cloud, which looked nearly black in comparison. The clouds around Kracko's eye, though glowing white, still looked dim when compared to lightning.

When the lightning disappeared, the clouds of the dome began to slowly change shape, forming undulating bumps.

Kracko turned in the air so that one of its many spikes was pointing at Kirby. Sensing the coming attack, he leapt aside. Instantly, bright white lightning sped again from the spikes, narrowly missing him.

Kracko turned again and flew over towards Kirby, though staying above him. He lobbed a bomb at Kracko, who fired its short-range beam attack at it, blowing it up before it got too close.

Kracko resumed its chase. Kirby fled as fast he could, barely managing to outrun a rain of small blue balls of lightning that poured from Kracko's underside as it pursued.

Suddenly, Kracko boosted bodily at Kirby, who, still running with his back to the malicious eye, was not able to react nearly quickly enough. He was blasted halfway across the cloud dome, electricity sparking over his body.

He landed on the soft cloud and stood up shakily. That had hurt. ...a lot.

Kracko rose back into the air.

"Creating: Waddle Doo," it said.

Then, what Kirby assumed was a Waddle Doo fell out of the clouds surrounding Kracko's eye. It looked like a Waddle Dee, except with one big eye instead of a face.

Kirby ran towards it. Its big eye focused on him.

As he neared, it used Kracko's short-range beam attack, firing the sparks from its eye.

Kirby stopped quickly, avoiding the beam.

When the Waddle Doo finished, Kirby inhaled it and swallowed.

Stars flashed in front of his eyes! He had copied a new ability! A jester's hat appeared on his head. This had a white frill at its base and white tufts at its two pointed ends. Also its left half was red, while its right half was orange with a pattern of white stars. In addition to this, a yellow wand, with a sky blue orb at one end, appeared in his right hand.

Kirby jumped and fired from his wand the same sparking ray that Kracko and the Waddle Doo had used.

It had no effect at all. Kracko retaliated with its own sparking ray, electrocuting Kirby and causing him to lose his newly acquired ability. Kracko had been baiting him with the Waddle Doo.

He fell to the ground, and then leapt aside, out of the way of Kracko flying at him again.

Once it had returned to its preferred altitude, green lightning crackled from underneath Kracko, striking the cloud floor. Its eye began spinning... and then began firing little zigzag-shaped green lightning projectiles in every direction!

Rather than try to dodge the flurry, Kirby inhaled, but this didn't effect those little bolts, and he was painfully zapped by the first one to enter his mouth.

So then, dodge he did, as best he could, but they were everywhere, an unstoppable barrage of fast and sharp shocking shards that he couldn't keep evading over and over and hit him a couple more times before... he collided with something else.

It was the Warp Star! It was a way to get cover! He jumped behind it and pulled that end down to make a little wall that he could hide behind.

He heard a few bolts hit the Warp Star ineffectually after that, and then the bombardment finally stopped.

He wasted no time in peeking out from behind his cover to see what Kracko was doing, and this was lucky, because it had just shot a bomb in a high arc to hit him behind the Warp Star.

Kirby inhaled the bomb, swallowed to copy Bomb ability, and ran back toward Kracko, throwing bomb after bomb at the eye. But Kracko's beam sparks blocked each and every one.

It shot another bomb, which nearly collided with Kirby before he inhaled. He immediately shot the star back, but Kracko blocked it just as it had blocked all of Kirby's bombs.

Thick orange lightning sped out of one of Kracko's top spikes. This lightning curved in the air, aiming for Kirby, who jumped out of the way.

The lightning curved again. The electric trail it was leaving behind in the air remained unbroken, all the way back to the spike where it began, as the front end hunted Kirby, who dodged once more.

Then a second string of orange electricity fired off from another spike, but Kirby made a daring jump, managed to dance around the two seekers, and threw a bomb at Kracko at close range.

The orange trails dissipated at once. Kracko flew high into the air, electricity sparking all over it. It began shaking. It turned so that its eye faced Kirby, and he could see a curved, black, metallic eyelid had slid onto the upper middle part of the eye, making it look angry.

"Power surge..." said Kracko.

Cyan lightning arced in every direction from Kracko's spikes, crackling into the clouds of the dome, causing the whole arena to become much more unstable. Undulating hills formed and reformed on the floor. The ceiling caved and vexed. The clouds seemed to be alive.

Though no rain fell, lightning now flashed from the ceiling to the floor, with accompanying crashes of thunder. The noise was incredible.

Kracko descended towards Kirby, who began to run, but was zapped in the back by the lightning arcing from his opponent.

He lost his ability, but kept running as fast as he could. Lightning was flashing everywhere in addition to the cyan electricity from Kracko, while the terrific noise of it all numbed the senses. He was running through chaos, and he was frantic.

He was suddenly thrown off balance when the clouds shifted beneath him. He fell, and tumbled down the side of a small hill that had risen in the cloud. A moment later, the slope turned into a peak, lifting him up too close to Kracko, so close that electricity instantly flew over his body as the terrible eye fried him with its surging lightning bolts.

Then the noise died, and the lightning dissipated. The clouds resumed their less dramatic undulation.

Kirby pushed himself to his feet. He could see trails of smoke in the air around him, and wondered vaguely if it was coming from his own burnt flesh. Everything hurt.

Kracko was hovering above him, its eye lidless once more.

"Delete..." it droned again.

Kirby ran, whimpering desperately. He had to escape or he would die in this giant hollow cloud. There had to be a way out; he had gotten in, after all.

He glanced backward and saw Kracko turn to aim with its spikes. He sped up, trying to position himself so that the attack missed.

It did. Bright white bolts of lightning streaked over his head and into the ground behind him.

He made it to the edge of the hollow cloud, but could not walk through it. He tried to push his way through. He tried to fly through. Nothing worked.

Suddenly Kracko was above him. He ran out of the way, barely evading a second rain of little blue balls of lightning. Then he turned and jumped to avoid the subsequent attack of Kracko flying at him.

It tried shooting small cannonballs again after that. Kirby inhaled them and shot back a large star. Kracko attempted to block the shot as usual, but this larger star went straight through its sparking ray and struck its eye.

Electricity sparked and flashed over Kracko again. It rose higher into the air.

"Power surge..." it repeated, its eyelid resuming its angry position.

"No..." whimpered Kirby.

The cyan lighting arced. The clouds of the dome trembled. Lightning flashed. Thunder blared.

Kirby ran.

Kracko pursued.

A warping cloud moved out from under Kirby, and he fell down another slope. He quickly tried to alter his roll so as to move in a different direction, out of Kracko's path.

Something sped past him.

He got up.

Kracko was a ways away, but Kirby saw something else. There was a flying cutlass made of red lightning spinning through the air.

It flew at Kirby. He managed to dodge it. Kracko was nearing. Kirby ran from Kracko again.

The flying electric cutlass suddenly slashed into him from behind.

He flew through the air and landed a ways away. His body was beginning to spasm painfully. The electricity was really affecting him now.

He moved his head so that, while still not upright, he could see Kracko some distance away, moving steadily towards him. The lightning cutlass was gone; it had apparently dissipated after successfully striking him.

But, something else was shining nearby. He looked, and once again saw the Warp Star, which was still completely unharmed.

He mounted it desperately.

Leaning forward and then left, he sped forward and turned. He sped away from Kracko. Lightning flashed around him, but he kept going.

Now the power surge was ending. The clouds were reverting back.

"Delete..." said Kracko again, though it was barely loud enough for the Dream Lander to hear after all the noise.

Kirby spun his Warp Star around to face Kracko, who flew quickly towards him.

Kirby used his Warp Star to fly out of the way.

Kracko turned again, and shuddering purple lightning blossomed from a number of its spikes. The lightning twisted and crisscrossed, forming a spherical web of electricity around Kracko.

Then the web expanded rapidly.

Kirby leaned back quickly, throwing the Warp Star into a sharp reverse. As soon as the holes in the web got big enough for him to pass through, he jumped through one of them.

The purple lightning struck the Warp Star, but this apparently wasn't enough to damage it, only causing it to fly about a foot backwards, electricity arcing over its surface for a moment.

He leapt back onto it.

Kracko then executed its orange electricity string attack again. Knowing he was not yet skilled enough to fly out of the way of the seekers on a Warp Star, Kirby sped away.

Once he was on the opposite side of the cloud dome, he turned back to face Kracko.

The string was still coming his way, and a second was starting.

Kirby saw something above the battle.

Looking up, he recognized the ball of electrified dark clouds that he had seen at the beginning of the fight and no doubt housed the third Star Rod shard.

A thought struck him.

Kirby carefully angled his Warp Star diagonally upward and then sped straight at the dark ball of electrified clouds. The seekers turned to chase him, but he was going too fast. As he neared the ball, he began to inhale. The clouds were all sucked into his mouth, and he swallowed, acquiring Spark ability.

Without stopping his Warp Star, he activated his ability and shot straight through the surface of the giant hollow cloud into the open air.

"Kirby!" exclaimed Gooey immediately. "What a relief to see you on my sensors again! The cloud you went into was blocking the transmissions to and from the cell phone. And you got the third Star Rod shard? And you're horribly injured?"

Kirby was far too tired and sore to respond. And then Kracko burst from the giant cloud behind him.

"Glitch: escaping," it droned. "Pursue..."

"Augh!" sputtered Gooey. "Kirby, fly! Get out over the ocean as fast as you can!"

Kirby leaned forward and rocketed away from Cloudy Park.

Kracko followed, through it wasn't nearly as fast as the Warp Star.

"Kirby, jump off the Warp Star once you get out over the open ocean," said Gooey. "Kracko won't be able to follow you underwater."

"But... can't stay under," said Kirby exhaustedly. "Dream Lander don't breathe w-water..."

"You do now. The power granted by the third Star Rod shard is to breathe and use your abilities underwater."

Kirby leapt from his Warp Star and plunged into Orange Ocean.


	14. Digression One

**Chapter 14: Digression One**

"That Kirby... I'm sure it was the Dream Lander that came here before. This is an imminent threat that cannot be ignored. But I am not yet strong enough to take care of it myself."

[incomprehensible reply]

"No, we cannot risk alerting the populace, or worse the rest of the solar system. The fewer who know I am here, the better. I will be able to possess others more easily if the element of surprise is on my side. It is unfortunate, but the only way to counteract this threat without creating others is for me to build strength as quickly as possible and then go after the Dream Lander myself. I must outmatch his fast pace. Organize the alphabet's latter half. We will begin immediately."

* * *

Glunks were positioned at the entrance to the cave. These were green sea anemones, with red tentacles and little eyes on their sides. If someone passed over them who wasn't supposed to, they would open fire with the guns they concealed in their tentacles. A small shark sped over them into the cave. The shark had a gray back and a white belly. The Glunks recognized it and remained motionless.

The cave was huge, and deep underwater. It had blue walls made of stone, from which green seaweed grew in every direction.

"Kirby's here!" the shark was shouting. "Kirby touched down in Orange Ocean!"

The two occupants of the cave turned to face the shark. One was a killer whale much bigger than the shark, and the other was an enormous, and enormously rotund, blue whale. This whale had a blue back and tail, while its belly and flippers were white. It also wore something similar to a sailor's shirt, custom fitted to its large shape, and complete with short sleeves for its fins. This outfit was white with a blue collar. The whale also sported a red scarf, tied around it below the collar, and a conspicuous brown pipe that never left its mouth.

The orca replied, in a low, rumbling voice, "Kirby? He is here already? This is bad news. Sweet Stuff is not back yet."

"Go, Acro," said the giant whale, addressing the killer whale. Its voice was high and distant, not matching its size. A few bubbles rose out of its pipe and floated upwards. "Tend to business."

Acro sped out of the cave in an instant.

"Hey!" The shark flailed a bit. "What about me?"

"You stay," said the giant whale.

"But I can swim just as fast as Acro! I can get there! I can help!"

"I made a promise."

"Come _on_. This mission's too important for—"

"You can't help here," interrupted the giant whale. "She died this way."

"Oh, right. Yeah... fending off a shipment. I know." The shark now wore a very glum frown.

"Stay here, Joe," finished the giant whale.

He then rose upward and broke the surface of the water. Although the cave was far underwater, it had trapped a large air pocket. A wooden dock had been constructed there.

"Flotzo," said the giant whale, addressing one of the two beings on the dock, a small, reddish-purple octopus.

"Here for ya," replied Flotzo in a low, yet sort of squelching voice.

"Assess and report."

"Will do, Boss."

"Cawcun," said the giant whale, addressing the other of the two beings on the dock, a white pelican with little neck and huge eyes.

"Yeah Boss?" replied Cawcun in a low, yet sort of squawking voice that didn't fit his somewhat silly appearance.

"Tail."

"You got it."

Flotzo and Cawcun dove into the water and departed.


	15. Deep Trouble

**Chapter 15: Deep Trouble**

Wonderfully weightless in the open ocean, and revived with a Maxim Tomato from Gooey, Kirby swam downward.

A Squishy, a small, white squid, swam in front of him. He inhaled it and swallowed, but didn't copy an ability.

The impact from hitting the water after his fight with Kracko had been enough to make him lose his Spark ability, so now he still didn't have anything copied.

"How far down do I have to go?" he asked.

"A considerable distance. Luckily, you are now also immune to the affects of water pressure, so this shouldn't be a problem. You need to travel quickly, though. I have an exact location for this Star Rod shard, but it's on the move, and you need to intercept it."

The farther down Kirby dove, however, the darker the water became. Less and less sunlight could penetrate these depths. He did welcome the respite from fighting he gained while swimming through the middle of open ocean, but he couldn't help but start getting concerned by the increasing lack of visuals.

"It's getting hard to see down here. Please tell me I don't have to go much farther."

"Keep moving, Kirby. You still have a ways to go."

"Gooey," protested Kirby feebly, without slowing, "there had better not be anything I have to fight down here. I'm not going to be able to see it."

"I'm sure you'll be able to see it."

"...Huh?"

"My thought is that no enemy would travel through a pitch black area of the ocean just to smuggle something from one place to another... unless they have a light source. There are too many hostile creatures that live that deep for the journey to not be dangerous otherwise."

Kirby stopped swimming. "Gooey, is this safe? I don't have a light source."

"Whoa hey don't stop now! You'll be fine. You should be seeing your target's light before long anyway."

Kirby continued his descent.

"Good," continued Gooey immediately. "You should make the interception nicely at this speed."

Kirby sighed as he went.

After another number of minutes, he finally spied a faint light in the distance. And it was indeed moving at a rate that would allow him to meet up with it.

He swam to intercept. The light got brighter and brighter as he neared it.

And then he reached it.

A giant anglerfish was suddenly revealed by the light, right in front of him. It was dark brown and three times his height.

It lunged, but Kirby had already shrieked in alarm and swum upward. As the anglerfish sped forward, Kirby collided with its bright, bulb-like lure, the light source.

On impulse, and for lack of better options, he inhaled. The anglerfish's bulb entered his mouth, but it was still connected to the monster by its line. The anglerfish snapped at Kirby again, but he swung out of its way on the bulb.

The anglerfish thrashed around. Kirby couldn't do anything. He was immobilized with the bulb in his mouth. His opponent was going berserk, flailing and snapping wildly, with him dangling just out of its reach.

Kirby was quickly becoming severely dizzy. How long did he have to keep this up? And what would happen if the anglerfish threw him off? Surely it would devour him.

Suddenly he was inside the monster's mouth! The anglerfish had lunged forward in such a way that its bulb had swung into its mouth. But then Kirby was abruptly back out in open water; the anglerfish had snapped its teeth shut on the line that connected the bulb to its forehead, and had bitten right through it.

Kirby swallowed the bulb. Stars flashed in front of his eyes. But he didn't acquire a hat. Instead, a dull throbbing sensation spread throughout his body.

"Light ability!" declared Gooey. And then he continued, "This is a one-time-use ability, Kirby; use it and lose it."

With the bulb gone, there was only darkness, so Kirby activated his ability, making the water transparent and lighting up the deep.

His opponent was wheezing in front of him. A dark red liquid was slowly leaking from the end of its severed line. Kirby wondered what it was.

The monster let out a low, strangled cry, and two Tincell, one-eyed starfish, appeared out of nowhere behind it. They sped at Kirby alarmingly quickly, spinning their legs like blades, but he inhaled them both at once and shot the projectile back at the anglerfish, which exploded in a shower of stars.

So the fourth Star Rod shard was revealed, floating in the clear water where the big fish had been. Kirby swam forward and scooped it into his mouth.

"The fourth shard! Excellent!" said Gooey. "That was very efficient. Good job. Now, swim back to the surface. I'll give you instructions from there."

"...What about the power the shard gave me?" said Kirby, beginning his ascent.

"Ah, yes. This is an interesting one, and a really _good_ one... The fourth shard gave you a momentous upgrade to your defensive capabilities, I must say. You know how every time you destroy an opponent, they burst into stars?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, this is because you are killing them with the powers of the Star Rod and the Fountain of Dreams. Anyway, from now on, the same will apply to _you_. Instead of taking physical damage from enemy attacks, the Star Rod will absorb as much of the blow as possible."

"...Uh, how would it do that?" asked Kirby awkwardly.

"Hmm. It's sort of hard to explain. Okay, here's an example: Let's say you get sliced by a sword. Instead of receiving a painful cut that remains on your body, stars will fly out of you. With every hit, the power of the shard diminishes. Eventually it will fail and you will take damage as usual. It can be _recharged_ through rest. Though a Maxim Tomato should replenish it instantly, conveniently enough."

Kirby still didn't quite understand, but he was distracted at this point by a school of Blippers to his right. Blippers were slightly aggressive red-and-yellow fish, which wore scuba goggles for some reason. They swam at the Dream Lander, who inhaled them all and swallowed, but didn't copy an ability.

He looked around to see if there were any other enemies nearby, and spotted something in the distance below him, though it was approaching rapidly. It took a moment before he could see it clearly, but his eyes widened and he began swimming upward as quickly as he could once he had worked out what it was: a killer whale somewhat bigger than the anglerfish.

"Gooey!" he shouted as he swam. "A killer whale is after me!"

"A killer whale? It must be Acro! Run! I mean swim! Get away!"

Kirby whined slightly, continuing to swim with all his might, but Acro gained on him far too quickly, and then teeth clamped horrifyingly onto his body.

Just as Gooey had described, swiftly disappearing stars burst from his body. Ripping flesh and intense pain were replaced by instantaneous healing and a bizarre stretching sensation, the latter of which, while of course not as unpleasant as pain, was still very distressing.

Kirby yowled as Acro thrashed around wildly without letting go, the water becoming thick with stars.

Then, a heavy impact! Flailing! Bubbles! Confusion. Darkness.

The feeling of rushing water.

"Kirby, what's going on?" said Gooey's voice loudly. "You're fast approaching the surface."

Kirby wiggled a bit. He was apparently stuck partway inside something, his lower body and feet sticking out in the water. He was no longer being attacked, though, as far as he could tell.

"Uh, I'll send a Warp Star!" Gooey was clearly just as confused.

Moments later, Kirby's feet exited the water. He could feel himself rise into the air... and then plummet for a moment before whatever he was stuck inside landed on something solid and fell over.

Then the opening of what he was stuck in widened a little, allowing him to push himself out. Immediately after he did, he had to grab onto the side of the Warp Star he suddenly found himself on top of to keep from falling into the water below, water which Acro surged upward out of to bite onto him again but fell back into after Kirby pulled himself up.

Being disoriented did not help Kirby share the Warp Star at this time. But he currently had to share it with the being that he had apparently been trapped inside moments before: a blue sunfish with yellow fins, which was about two times his height and had a very big mouth.

"You will pay, Kirby!"

Kirby nearly fell again upon being startled by that hellish, rumbling shout. He shakily looked down at the water, where Acro was looking back at him.

"You have _not_ seen the last of the Underwater Mafia!" were the killer whale's last words before he dove back underwater and was gone.

Then there was silence. Kirby looked back at the blue fish that had... saved him from Acro? That must have been what happened. He had no idea what to say, though.

"So," said the fish at last, "you're Kirby."

"K-Kine?" sputtered Gooey almost immediately. "What's going on here?"

"I just saved your Dream Lander, Gooey," said Kine. "Now could you please send another Warp Star? There isn't enough room on this one for the two of us."

"Uh, right away!" There were faint sounds of tapping for a moment before he continued, "We're indebted to you now, Kine. But I'm still confused; how was it that you came here to save him? You just happening to be at the right place at the right time in the middle of the ocean... It can't have been a coincidence."

"Maybe we can figure out how it happened; I don't entirely know myself. I trailed Sweet Stuff out here, but lost track of him. Shortly after that, my radar sensed Acro a ways above, moving quickly. I went to see what was going on and you know the rest."

"Ah-ha! Well, I have good news for you: Kirby already took care of that monster you were tracking."

"And Acro went after him to take revenge. I see."

There was silence for a few more moments. Kirby tried to make out Kine's expression, but a couple things made this difficult. One was that the fish was still on his side, and another was that he always left his mouth wide open when not talking.

Then the Warp Star arrived, bearing a Maxim Tomato. Kirby boarded and ate. Being around Kine made him feel thoroughly awkward, but he couldn't figure out why.

There was also something he felt was nagging at the back of his mind, something at least somewhat important...

"Gooey..." he said, remembering suddenly, "how did Acro know my name?"

"Oh. Ah, yeah..." Gooey sounded bitter. "It was while I was teaching you to fly a Warp Star that I got the news. Apparently either Lololo or Lalala told someone about you, and then the word spread. Welcome to celebrity, Kirby." It was quite clear that this was not a good thing.

"So," interjected Kine, "Gooey, could you tell this Warp Star to take me back to Iceberg? Ice Dragon is still rampaging."

"Done."

Kine sped off into the distance.


	16. Meta

**Chapter 16: Meta**

"Alright, Kirby," said Gooey, "can you see Orange Ocean Harbor in the distance to the north?"

"Uh-huh."

"Fly in that direction."

Kirby did so.

But, when he was nearing the harbor, he stopped. He could see something there that gave him pause. Docked in a gigantic, circular harbor next to the main one was a massive, intimidating aircraft. It had a long metal body with towers built upward out of it.

It also had guns on every surface, more turrets and defenses than Kirby had thought even existed.

"There's... something there," he said nervously. "What _is_ that?"

"It's called the Halberd. Sah-koo-rye warned me about this. It is a flying warship built by the Meta Clan, a group of warriors whose goal is to take over Pop Star. Their leader, Meta Knight, is possibly the most feared being in the Starred System."

"And, he has the shard?" asked Kirby, dreading the answer.

"Actually, I don't know."

"Huh?" This wasn't the answer Kirby had expected.

"My sensors definitely point to the shard being aboard the Halberd, but I'm perplexed as to how it could have gotten there. The Meta Clan does not work for King Dedede, so they could only have acquired the shard by theft. But, why would they want it?

"Well, enough of my musings," continued Gooey, interrupting himself. "Kirby, your mission is to board the Halberd and recover the fifth Star Rod shard. Then, you must destroy the Halberd itself. We cannot allow it to remain a threat to peace in Dream Land. You are ideally placed for this mission. Find the shard and take down the Halberd."

"But, it's so big," said Kirby, aghast. The ship was indeed gigantic, considerably bigger even than Castle Dedede. "How am I going to destroy it?"

"You'll figure it out, I suppose."

"I'll figure... You suppose?"

"Oh, and one more thing... Heh, I didn't expect I would be able to do this, but I should not have underestimated the technology at my disposal. I have just successfully hacked into the Halberd's communications system. Hopefully we'll soon know what the Meta Clan is plotting and why their unveiling of the Halberd has coincided with Dark Matter's arrival on Pop Star. I will transmit to the phone all conversations my equipment picks up."

"But, how am I going to destroy-"

"We'll deal with that later, Kirby. For now, focus on getting that shard. _Also_, I'm picking something up already. Here it is."

Kirby heard new voices speaking from the phone.

"Reactor one output normal," said one.

"Adjust the balancer to zero-zero-zero-three!" said another.

"Let's raise the anchor," said yet another.

"Check antigravity plant." Kirby couldn't understand what any of the voices were saying.

A fifth: "One!"

A sixth: "Two!"

A seventh: "Three!"

The fourth: "Okay!"

An eighth: "Solar level 288!"

The third: "Excellent! Release the sails!"

And, as the Halberd's gigantic bat-like wings unfurled, a voice spoke that was different from the others. It was the lowest voice Kirby had ever heard, lower than he had thought it was possible for a voice to be. But it wasn't gruff in the slightest. It conveyed confidence, authority, and most of all power.

"The time has come," it said. "It's time to show our new power. Dream Land's lazy lifestyle will end! Its corrupted monarchy will fall! I... WILL... RULE."

_Meta Knight..._ thought Kirby.

"They're taking off!" exclaimed Gooey. "Kirby! Quick! Board before they ready their guns!"

Kirby leaned forward and sped toward the Halberd. As he got closer, more voices came from the phone.

"K-Kirby's here! He's flying this way!"

"Oh, my gosh! What are we gonna do?"

"He'll get in the way. Get rid of him!"

"Prepare the guns!"

"It's no good! He's too close! They won't be ready in time!"

"Oh no! Oh no! What do we do?"

"He mustn't interfere with our plans!"

"Lord Meta Knight, what is your command?"

Meta Knight: "Soldiers near the deck, prepare for battle! All others prepare for takeoff!"

Kirby's Warp Star crashed into the top of the Halberd's hull, and Kirby flew off it. Then the Warp Star flew away.

"Okay, I'm on the Halberd."

"_On_ it. Good. Now you need to get _in_ it. Find a hatch or something."

Kirby quickly located a hatch and entered through it.

He dropped down onto a deck inside the ship. He was greeted by a dark metal corridor and sounds of machinery. The resident soldiers wasted no time in attacking.

Two floating, orange, translucent spheres with eyes shot lasers at him. He dodged the lasers and inhaled one of the orb-like enemies, copying the sparking beam ability he had used without success against Kracko.

"Beam ability!" declared Gooey.

Kirby used Beam ability to shoot a ray of sparks through the other spherical enemy, which disappeared in a burst of stars.

A short robot with a baseball cap and an arm and hand instead of a face swung a yo-yo at Kirby. It hit him in the side, the impact sending stars flying from his skin, and he lost his Beam ability.

He spun around to face the yo-yo wielder, and an enemy that looked like a knight's helmet with feet threw a blade at him like a boomerang. The blade sliced through his back, but left no physical damage as more stars flew in every direction from the cut. Even though Kirby no longer felt pain from attacks, he could not let them use up the shard's power.

He inhaled and swallowed the helmet enemy as soon as it caught the spinning blade, copying Cutter ability! The yo-yo wielder swung its yo-yo again, but Kirby cut through its string with his own blade. Then he threw the blade, which sliced through the enemy, making it burst into stars.

He threw his boomerang again, slicing through another floating ball enemy. Then he threw it again at a Poppy Brothers Junior that was coming at him with a bomb. This PBJ was wearing yellow, rather than blue like the ones in Butter Building. Though the PBJ was eliminated, more were approaching quickly, along with other soldiers. Kirby rushed forward to meet them.

He sliced through a few opponents with his blade before one of them could counterattack. As he threw his blade at a sword wielding enemy with light purple armor and glowing feelers, it cut the blade in two with its sword, and Kirby lost his ability. But then he inhaled the swordsman and swallowed.

Stars flashed in front of his eyes. A green-and-yellow hat much like the blue-and-white hat for Bomb ability appeared on his head, and a yellow sword with a blue hilt appeared in his hand.

"Sword ability!" declared Gooey.

Kirby quickly sliced through another PBJ with his new copy ability, parried an axe attack from another small soldier (which wore a skull mask and viking helmet) and drove his sword into it. Then he did the same thing to an enemy that was fighting with some sort of trident, knocking its weapon away and thrusting his sword into its armor's eyehole.

Sword ability took Kirby far into the Halberd. As he entered a door and found himself in an even darker area, more voices spoke.

"Kirby's in the rocket valve!"

"We need more forces in that area! Quickly, quickly!"

An elevator arrived on Kirby's floor and four enemy swordsmen stepped out of it. Two were of the kind he had fought briefly earlier, while the other two's purple armor was darker, and yellow eyes glowed from within their helmets.

"Get 'im!" shouted one of them; it was impossible to tell which since none of their faces could be seen.

They rushed at Kirby.

He blocked one of the darker swordsmen's attacks and spun around, slicing through one of the lighter swordsmen, which disappeared with accompanying stars. He parried another attack from the other lighter swordsman and then jumped out of the way of an attack from the other darker swordsman. Kirby cut through that darker swordsman, but was immediately cut himself by the other. He lost his ability.

He dodged another slice from the remaining lighter swordsman and inhaled the remaining darker swordsman, then shot the star at the lighter swordsman, finishing off the quartet.

Kirby walked over to the elevator and pushed the button to call it. Apparently it had already moved to another floor, for he had to wait a few moments before it came. When it arrived, it was carrying a number of PBJs. The two in the front pulled out bombs, which he inhaled and swallowed, copying Bomb ability. He swiftly tossed a couple bombs into the elevator, destroying all the PBJs before they could escape.

He entered the elevator, and looked at the buttons inside to see that he was on the third floor. He could ascend to the fourth floor, or he could descend to the second or first. He decided on impulse to go down to the second.

He pressed the button. The doors shut. And immediately he felt three sharp objects stick into the top of his head.

He yelled in surprise and pulled from his (now hatless) head three miniature daggers, three "kunai". He looked upward to see a roundish, shrouded, ninja-like enemy clinging to the high ceiling of the elevator above him.

He inhaled, but the ninja held fast to the ceiling. It was somehow managing to maintain a grip strong enough to prevent being pulled into Kirby's mouth.

So instead he thrust the kunai into his mouth so that he could shoot a star at the ninja, but at that same moment the elevator stopped on the second floor and the doors opened.

On the other side of the doors were two strange looking enemies that resembled pineapples with eyes, helmets and little feet. Kirby spun to face them and immediately spat the star at one of them, defeating it. Then he jumped out of the elevator, dodging two attacks at once. One attack was the remaining pineapple enemy opening as though there was a hinge on its back and firing a bomb into the elevator, and the other was the ninja jumping down, attempting to slice Kirby with a knife.

The bomb hit the ninja, destroying it. Then Kirby inhaled the remaining pineapple enemy and swallowed it to copy Bomb ability again.

A door lay before Kirby. He entered it. What lay beyond was a massive hallway with cannons lining its walls. Black marks of explosions were everywhere.

For a split second, he considered making a run for the other end, but then he abruptly jumped back through the door and closed it. The sounds of a barrage of ammunition on the other side confirmed his decision as being the right one.

So he got back on the elevator and pressed the button for the first floor.

The doors opened onto another small enclosure. Kirby stepped out into it. At the opposite end of the room was a door, which was guarded by a floating, reddish-gray, somewhat dome shaped robot.

"Intruder," said the drone in a high, robotic voice, promptly shooting a javelin at Kirby.

He dodged easily and threw a bomb at the enemy. The bomb exploded right on target, blasting the drone into a wall, stars and sparks flying from it. Without giving it time to fire more javelins, Kirby threw another bomb, finishing it off.

He walked through the door... and fell seven feet into an area on the side of the Halberd. He looked up and saw a gigantic engine nozzle pointed in his direction.

"Kirby's behind the nozzle now!"

"Fix him!"

"Initiate takeoff! We'll blow Kirby away!"

"Okay! Main engine ignition!"

Gooey's voice joined the others. "Kirby! Get out of there!"

Kirby inflated and tried to fly back up to the door as quickly as possible, but...

"Now! Take off!"

Fiery air blasted Kirby. Stars burst from every part of his body (and of course he lost Bomb ability). He shot away from the Halberd like a bullet, flew hundreds of feet through the air and landed back in Orange Ocean.


End file.
